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CONTENTS. xi 

Indians — Odd Notions of the Aboriginal Thinkers — Samples of the 
Rites Practiced — Cannibalism and Shamanism — Law and Home 
Life — Description of the Innuits of the North 491 

CHAPTER XXI. 

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Purer Religion to 
the Savages — Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Pro- 
gress of Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of 
the Luthern Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to 
Provide for Their Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the 
Territory to the United States — Deed Interest shown By the Natives 
— Some Striking Literature from the Wilds — Methodists Follow the 
Presbyterians in Their Missions — Great Hope for the Future. . . . 503. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA AND NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

Region is One of Vast Extent and Diversified Features — Has a Magnifi- 
cent Ocean Frontage — A Land of Great Rivers which Afford Internal 
Highways — Greatest of All is the Columbia — Has a Large Ocean 
Trade Even Now — Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful — Con- 
struction of Railways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many 
Districts Famous for Their Grain and Others for Their Mineral 
Deposits — Gold Mines in Abundance — Klondike Within the Cana- 
dian Territory — Some of the Mines Now Worked — Silver Not 
Wanting 51d 



ALASKA 

AND THE 

KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS 

CONTAINING 

A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD; ENORMOUS 

DEPOSITS OF THE PRECIOUS METAL; ROUTES 

TRAVERSED BY MINERS; HOW TO 

FIND GOLD; CAMP LIFE 

AT KLONDIKE 

Practical Instructions for Fortune Seekers, Etc., Etc. 

INCLUDING A 

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE GOLD REGIONS; LAND OF 

WONDERS; IMMENSE MOUNTAINS, RIVERS AND 

PLAINS; NATIVE INHABITANTS, ETC. 

BY A. C HARRIS 

The Well-Known Author and Traveler 
INCLUDING 

Mrs. Eli Gage's Experiences of a Year among the Yukon Mining 

Camps ; Mrs. Schwatka's Recollections of her husband as 

the Alaskan Pathfinder; Prosaic Side of Gold 

Hunting, as seen by Joaquin Miller, 

the Poet of the Sierras 



EMBELLISHED WITH MANY ENGRAVINGS REPRESENTING 
MINING AND OTHER SCENES IN ALASKA 



National Publishing Com 

239 LEVANT STREET 
PHILADELPHIA 




V 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897 by 

J. R. JONES, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 

All Rights Reserved, 






A 






PREFACE. 

KLONDIKE is the magic word that is thrilling the whole 
country. It stands for millions of gold and great for- 
tunes for hundreds of miners, who have risen from 
poverty to affluence in the brief period of a few months. Thou- 
sands are reading of fortunes made in the Klondike Gold 
Fields, and thousands of others are turning their longing eyes 
toward the new El Dorado. 

The old Spanish dreams of a wonderful realm somewhere 
in the Western Continent, made of gold and precious stones, 
seem almost on the point of being realized. Not since 1849, 
when the marvellous discoveries of gold were made in Cali- 
fornia, has there been such excitement among all classes of 
people. 

Everybody wants to know the real facts concerning the new 
discoveries. On every hand there is an eagerness for the 
most reliable information, which is furnished by this new and 
comprehensive work, containing a full description of Alaska 
and the Gold Regions. The author writes from personal ex- 
perience and observation, as he has been an eye-witness of 
the scenes, incidents and facts which he describes and narrates. 

The work gives a complete account of the rise of the gold 
fever, the excitement produced by the news of unlimited 
deposits of the precious metal ; the rush of miners seeking 
fortunes at Klondike ; hasty preparations for the long and 
perilous journey ; and the formation of companies eager to 
take possession of the region abounding in untold wealth. 
The thousands of prospectors hurrying to the Gold Fields give 
us a picture of the rush to California when the discoveries of 
gold were made in that State in 1849. 

(Hi) - 



iv PREFACE. 

How to get there is a question fully answered in this vol- 
ume. The different routes are described, together with the best 
modes of transportation. This work tells you what is required 
for the trip ; the clothing, food and implements that are needed ; 
the hardships and dangers to be encountered ; the difficulties 
arising from extreme cold in winter, and all the trying expe- 
riences awaiting the gold-seekers. 

Alaska is a land of wonders. It is a vast region and one 
of the least known, yet one of the most remarkable countries 
in the whole world. Its history is fully related ; its purchase 
by our Government from Russia; its slow development and its 
peculiar characteristics. It has vast tracts of primeval forests ; 
mountains of awful sublimity ; rivers that rival the largest in 
other parts of the world ; Arctic snows and summer foliage 
and flowers ; deep canons and grand water-falls ; solitudes 
peopled only by polar bears and other fur-bearing animals ; and 
weird scenes that startle the beholder and fill him with awe. 

These are all vividly described, together with the towns and 
settlements ; the appearance, habits and customs of the native 
inhabitants ; the climate in different parts of the country, and 
the progress of civilization up to the present time The min- 
eral resources and wealth of Alaska are fully treated, showing 
it to be a country rich in natural products. Its important 
fisheries and possibilities for agriculture are all set forth, to- 
gether with its industries, including its famous traffic in seals. 

How to mine for gold is a subject on which the informa- 
tion is most complete and valuable. The reader follows the 
miners to their camps ; learns the process by which they extract 
the precious metal from the recesses where it is stored ; how 
it is separated from the ore ; what machinery is employed, 
and what are the most successful methods for obtaining the 
coveted prize. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time — Discovery of Gold Not New — 
News is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Dig- 
gings are Soon Abandoned — Effect of the Find on the People of the 
United States and on the Money Centres of the World — Region 
which may Properly be called the Land of Geld once Thought so 
Worthless the Russians Offered to Give it Away for Nothing — 
Testimony as to the Richness of the Deposits — The Popular 
Demand for Information as to the Country, its Inhabitants, 
Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Life and Experiences . . 17 

CHAPTER II. 
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

Arrival of the Portland with more than a Ton of Gold on Board — 
Miners Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines 
— First Great Gold Craze — Prospecting in Early Days — Rich Gold 
Discovery on Bonanza Creek — Argonauts Flock to the Steamers 
— Scenes at the Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to 
the Rush — Millions of Money and Thousands of Men — Craze in 
Wall Street — Royalty Affected — Money in Grub-stakes— Joaquin 
Miller Under Way — " Lucky " Baldwin After Mother Lode — 
Bright and Dark Sides of Story 33 

CHAPTER III. 

» 

"STRIKE IT RICH" ON KLONDIKE. 

Gold-seekers who " Made their Pile " in the Placers — Tales Brought 
Back by Returning Argonauts — Fabulous Stakes made by Novices 
— The "Tenderfoot " Has His Day — Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney 
Barnato " of the Diggings — His Wonderful Streak of Luck — Gives 
the Credit to His Wife — Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning 
Results — Fortune Favors an Indiana Boy — Some of the Dark Sides, 
by People who Saw Them — Miners Go Insane— Death on the Glacier 
— Hard Work and Lack of Supplies — Advice of a California Pioneer 75 

(v) 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 
HOW TO GET THERE. 

Main Routes to the Klondike — By Water and Land — Voyage via St. 
Michael's — Trip Up the Yukon — Choice of Trails via Juneau and 
Dyea— In by Chilkoot Pass— Over the Chilkat— The White Pass 
Route — Lieutenant Schwatka's Trail via Taku — By Way of Fort 
Wrangel and Lake Teslin — Railroads Suggested — The ' ' Back Door ' ' 
Route — Up the Copper River — By Moose Factory and Chesterfield 
Inlet — Other Trails — Telegraph and Telephone — Postal Service — 
Outfits for Miners — List of Necessaries , , 129 

CHAPTER V. 

A LAND OF WONDERS. 

Land of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances — 
Terrors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of 
Travel — A Great Glacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery 
— Rush of Torrents — Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River — 
Canon of Lewis River — Dominion of the Frost King — Towering 
Volcanoes — The Winter Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem 
Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast Solitudes — The Alaskan Natives. . 182 

CHAPTER VI. 

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

Schemes for Obtaining Wealth — Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the 
Frozen North — The Mosquito Pest — Juneau and the Lynn Canal — 
Climbing the Mountains — Difficulties of Mining — Scarcity of Game 
— The Scurvy Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps — 
Female Enterprise — Scarcity of Amusements — Sisterhood of St. 
Anne — The Four-leaf Clover — Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance 
of Joseph Ladue — Women's Klondike Syndicate — A Lucky Seam- 
stress 210 

CHAPTER VII. 
POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 

Rushes off to the Diggings at the First Report — Mining in '49 — Goes 
in to Rough It — Carries His Own Pack,. Pick and Pan — Will Hunt 



CONTENTS. vii 

for a Good Job — Coming Back With Bed-rock Facts — Contradicts 
Some Horse Stories — Schemes of the Pioneers — Not a Pistol in the 
Crowd — One Way to Get Bear Meat— Recalls Other Big Strikes — 
On Mary Island — With Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police 
at Metlakahtia — Hay on the Klondike — None Coming From Yukon 
— Frolic with Indian Children 245 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen — 
Seward's Glory — His Prophecy on Retiring to Private Life Verified 
— Comparatively Few People in the Territory — Story of the Early 
Days of Russian Occupation — The First Massacre — Country Once 
Offered to the United States for Nothing — Appropriation for 
Money to Pay for the Tract Opposed by Congress Bitterly — Efforts 
to Provide Country with a Government — Interior containing Gold 
Fields once thought Worthless was Parceled Out in Thirds between 
as many Nations — Recent History 256 

CHAPTER IX. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features — Like an Ox's Head 
Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its 
Archipelago a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends 
of the Indians are Many — Tributes of Visitors to the Wilderness 
Magnificent Auroral Displays — The Reports Brought Back as to the 
Differences of Temperature — Mr. Weare Gives Some Interesting 
Information — Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are 
Located 281 

CHAPTER X. 
FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

Agricultural Industries in Alaska — Vegetables and Small Fruits in the 
Southeastern Portion — Grasses and Fodder — Panorama of Blossoms 
in the Short Summer — Seasons in the Yukon Basin — Sea Otters 
and Fur Seals — Food Animals and Carnivorae — Moose and Caribou 
— Value of Pelts — Fish of the Territory — Salmon Canning and 



viii CONTENTS. 

Salting — A Dog Fish Story — Birds of Alaska — Among the Ceta- 
ceans — Mosquitos and Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Tempera- 
ture at Klondike — Animals and Vegetation in British Columbia . . 295 

CHAPTER XI. 
INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Chief Occupations of the Natives and the Settlers — The Four Remark- 
able Seal Islands — How the Animals Have Been Ruthlessly 
Slaughtered — When the Fur is at Its Best— The Great Fishing Plants 
of the Country — Alaska the Home of the Salmon — Cod and Other 
Fish Abound — Trapping and Hunting on the Decline — Current 
Belief that the Outlook for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability 
that this Opinion may be Reversed by Later Discovery — Trees on 
the Islands — Agricultural Development one of the Great Needs at 
the Present Time — Land Simply Needs Tilling — Vegetables and 
Berries Grown in Quantities — Reports of Travelers 324 

CHAPTER XII. 

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

Record as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago — 
How the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Re- 
port of Geological Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review 
— Alaska Richer than Klondike — West of the Coast Range — Mint 
Director Preston's Views — United States Leads the World in Gold 
Production — From the Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon 
Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings — Some Scattered Streaks — Experts 
in the Field — John W. Mackey Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — 
Canadian Report 349 

CHAPTER XIII. 

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with 
Gold — Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting — 
Thawing the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Minerals 

Pyrites, Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the 

Claim— Local Customs— Commissioner Herrman's Digest— Getting 
Out the Gold— Mining in Winter— Work Along the Yukon — Sluic- 



CONTENTS. ix 

ing for Gold — Dry Placer Miners — Dredging for Gold — Old Miner's 
Advice — Gold-bearing Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike — 
Banks and Banking 375 

CHAPTER XIV. 

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining — 
Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed 
—Call for United States Troops — Size of Claims — Canadian Laws . 402 

CHAPTER XV. 
GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

Mining Excitements in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay 
the Old World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America 
— Early Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — "Pike's Peak 
or Bust " — Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp 
Craze — Rush to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone — 
Placers in Baja, California — Harqua Hala Diggings — Randsburg and 
Its Boom — Comparisons with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes 
Cost in Cash and Life 422 

CHAPTER XVI. 

SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via 
Baloon — Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock 
in Dogs — Chopping Wood to Pay Passage — Grub-stakers and 
"Angels" — Schemes of Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as 
Gold-finders — Mining Stocks and Sharpers — Magic in the Name — 
Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the Yukon — Samples of Argonauts 
— Freaks of " Tenderfeet " — Bogus Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep 
Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a Miner's Paper 440 

CHAPTER XVII. 

CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

Mining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Com- 
munities, with such Peculiarities as are Born of Climatic and Topo- 



CONTENTS. 

graphical Features — All Have Their Social Amenities — The Bible 
and Shakespeare Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the Fortune 
Seekers — Watching of Property Early a Necessity — Sharpers Lose 
no Time in Getting in Their Work — Gamblers also Flock Toward 
the Yukon to Intercept the Returning Miners and Fleece Them — 
Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the Wilds 45S 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the 
Wilderness — Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — The Older 
Towns Antiquated and. during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded — 
Graphic Pictures of Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, and Camp 
Lake Linderman — Hotel Project for the Territory that Promises to 
be the Means of Furnishing a Larger Quota of Comforts — Women's 
Influence on the Domestic Life — Some of Those Who Grace the 
Camps with their Presence, and the Particular Line of Work to 
which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of Mercy for the Sick and 
Dying, and Sisters of Cookery for the Well 465> 

CHAPTER XIX. 

ETHNOGRAPHY. 

Census of Alaska — Russian Estimates of Population—Classification of 
the Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive 
of Asiatic Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats 
and their Traits — Hootzanoos and " Hoochinoo " — The Sitkans and 
Stickines — Among the Aleuts 478 

CHAPTER XX. 

NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

The Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are 
Intelligent, Inventive, and Imitative — Are Adepts in the Vices of 
the White Men Who Visit Them — Are Natural-born Drunkards and 
Gamblers— Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times — The 
Significance of these Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in 
Oral Traditions — The Theological and Cosmological Belief of the 






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■ TV " 138 



OFFICIAL MAP OF THE KLONDIKE AND YUKON REGION. 



(United States Survey.) 



CHAPTER I. 

Land of the Argonauts. 

A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time — Discovery of Gold Not New — News 
is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Diggings are Soon 
Abandoned — Effect of the Find on the People of the United States and 
on the Money Centres of the World — Region which may Properly be 
called the Land of Gold once Thought so Worthless the Russians Offered 
to Give it Away for Nothing — Testimony as to the Richness of the 
Deposits — The Popular Demand for Information as to the Country, its 
Inhabitants, Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Life and Experi- 
ences. 

ALASKA is the land of the Nineteenth Century Argonauts ; 
and the Golden Fleece hidden away among its snow- 
capped and glacier-clad mountains is not the pretty creation 
of mythological fame, but yellow nuggets which may be trans- 
formed into the coin of the realm. The vast territory into which 
these hardy soldiers of fortune penetrate is no less replete with 
wonders than the fabled land into which Jason is said to have 
led his band of adventurers. 

There is this difference, however, between the frozen land of 
of the North and the fabled land of mythology. There is 
nothing conjectural about Alaska or its golden treasure. Jason 
led his band into an unknown country without the certain knowl- 
edge that the treasure he was seeking was there. The men and 
women who brave the perils of the wilderness to seek their 
fortunes in Alaska, go with a certainty that the treasure is there. 
It is a mere matter of finding it when once they have reached 
the fields. 

What is more the Land of Gold, as we may properly term 
Alaska, has proved and will prove to tourist and prospector 
as rich in delights and marvels as the land which has come 
2 17 



18 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

down to us in legend. It seems to be a spot chosen by nature 
as a field of adventure. The person, therefore, who goes from 
the South to the Yukon Valley will be sure to find, even though 
disappointed in the quest for which primarily he went, enough 
of the beautiful and martelous to pay him for his trip. 

Frozen by Lapse of Time. 

And first a word about this land of bleakness and grandeur. 
Captain Butler, an English officer who crossed the great country 
some little time ago, writes in the most enthusiastic terms of its 
scenery, and one cannot do better than quote his picturesque 
words. Says he : 

" Nature has here graven her image in such colossal charac- 
ters that man seems to move slowly amid an ocean frozen rigid 
by the lapse of time — frozen into those things we call mountains, 
rivers and forests. 

" Rivers whose single length roll twice 2,000 miles of shore 
line! Prairies over which a traveler can steer for weeks without 
resting his gaze on aught save the dim verge of the ever-shifting 
horizon ! Mountains rent by rivers, ice-topped, glacier seared, 
impassable ! Forests whose sombre pines darken a region half 
as large as Europe ! 

" In summer a land of sound ; a land echoed with the voices 
of birds ; the ripple of running water ; the mournful music of 
the waving pine branch ! In winter a land of silence ; its great 
rivers glimmering in the moonlight, wrapped in their shrouds of 
ice ; its still forests rising weird and spectral against the auroral 
lighted horizon ; its nights so still that the moving streamers 
across the northern skies seem to carry to the ear a sense of 
sound." 

The land thus strikingly described has been deemed since 
early in 1887 the Eldorado where nature has apparently strewn 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 19 

her golden gifts most lavishly. It is to this land that thousands 
have wended their way in the hopes of wresting from their 
hidden beds enough of these treasures to lift them to opulence. 

Not a New Discovery. 

The knowledge of these gold fields in the North is not new. 
From early in the days of the Russian occupation it has been 
known that there were vast deposits of the precious metal in 
Alaska, practically under the Arctic Circle. 

Year by year the gold fields have attracted adventurous for- 
tune seekers, who have gone thither in ever-increasing numbers. 
Following the discovery of the rich deposits in the Klondike 
region, however, there has been an influx of people into these 
frozen wilds, such as has never been known before. 

The first chance discovery was for a long time virtually held 
in secret, not intentionally, but because the lack of transit facil- 
ities made it difficult to get the news to civilized communities. 
When at length, however, the story of the find was brought 
south, and with the story was brought specimens of nuggets and 
gold dust which had been found, the news was put upon the 
wires and flashed through the length and breadth of the land, 
and the excitement caused gave every promise of a repetition of 
the memorable scenes which made Cariboo and Cassair famous 
a generation ago. 

In New York, in Chicago, in London, in Paris, throughout 
the world, the attention alike of rich and poor, was directed to 
the marvelously rich, but almost wholly unknown wilds of 
Alaska. People talked of the days of '49 and devised a new 
slogan, "The days of '97." The rich immediately began to 
organize new companies and map out new enterprises, such as 
made fortunes for thousands in days of other gold excitements ; 
and multitudes of the poor, dissatisfied with their opportunities 



!0 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 



in districts longer settled and better improved, made haste to 
provide their outfits and take passage to the Yukon. 

In former days it was " Pike's Peak or Bust." Now the 
watch-word became "On to the Klondike." 

In the gold mining regions of Alaska there were, in 1893, not 




more than about 300 miners all told. This number was doubled 
practically the following year. Owing to the glowing reports of 
successful operators, the number of miners attracted by 1S95 was 
3000. Probably twice that number of miners and prospectors 
invaded the country in 1 896. 

In 1897 came this furor that caused the Klondike district to 
rank with the great historical gold fields of the world. This 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 21 

year witnessed the greatest influx of people into the territory on 
record, and there was every prospect that the year following 
would see the number quadrupled, possible many times over. 

Old Diggings Abandoned. 

And in the excess of enthusiasm and the wild hurrah raised 
when the new fields on the Klondike were discovered the old 
diggings were virtually abandoned. For ten years, at least, men 
worked placers in the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in 
the spring, they went out over the Chilkoot Pass and down the 
little chain of lakes on the other side, making long portages, it 
is true, and enduring some hardships, to the Yukon River. They 
returned to Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them 
from $2000 to $3500 each in gold dust, the product of the 
summer's work. 

But they were improvident, these men who won gold from 
the beds of rivers, and when the spring came they were stranded 
financially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they " won 
out " some way and got back again to return — unless they had 
crossed the divide forever — and repeated the same old story of 
excess and extravagance. 

They never grew money wise, these grizzled veterans of the 
rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they 
are of God's people. 

Quartz lodes were worked in ten or more districts, some of 
which are large and contain many district claims. The ten dis- 
tricts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which 
yields ore containing silver, gold and other metals ; Salmon 
Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly 
gold ; Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty 
Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay mining district, near Sitka, 
gold and silver ; Besner's Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ; 



22 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

Fish River mining district, on Norton Sound ; Unga district and 
Lemon Creek. 

But the furor over Klondike brought revolution. A change 
came over the spirit of the miners' dreams. 

This country has been seized with the gold fever many times 
in the last half century, but never since yellow deposits were 
discovered in the Sacramento Valley was there such universal 
interest as was displayed over the discovery of gold on the 
Yukon and the Klondike. In many districts men and women 
talked of nothing else than of the new find. They were enthusi- 
astic beyond bounds. 

Experienced miners who had spent years in Alaska came to 
the front with words of caution and advice to let these enthu- 
siasts know that the road to wealth in the Alaskan gold fields 
was even more beset with hardships in the way of cold, hunger 
and toil than the fields to which they were accustomed, and 
with which they had become dissatisfied. The friendly counsel, 
however, was disregarded. The one cry was " On to the Klon- 
dike," and one and all were apparently seized with the mad fever 
to leave civilization and seek wealth in the wilds. 

Made His Blood Boil. 

" What makes my blood run faster in my veins is to think 
that I have walked all over that gold and that now others are 
digging it. It prevents me from sleeping at night. 

The speaker was Francois Mercier, a resident of Montreal, 
who can claim the honor of having been one of the first band 
of hardy pioneers who raised the American flag over the now 
celebrated gold fields of Alaska, and who spent seventeen winters 
in that desolate country. 

Thousands besides Mercier found it difficult to sleep, and 
Alaska suddenly arose from an obscure district, which had often 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 23 

been called the " back dooryard of the United States," into the 
most talked of region of America. People then began to learn 
something of the history, the resources, the climate and the 
future of the country. 

They were surprised to find that this vast territory, which was 
purchased in 1867 by Secretary Seward for half a cent an acre, 
had already paid $103,000,000. This was the returns of thirty 
years on an investment of $7,200,000. This enormous sum 
they then learned had been derived from furs, herring, salmon, 
cod, ivory, whalebone and gold. Gold, of course, was the most 
interesting item. 

They found at the time of the last census the United States had 
taken out $76,000,000 in the precious metal. They found that 
since then the mines of the country had enriched the world's 
gold supply by about $27,000,000. 

Came Like a Whirlwind. 

It is no wonder, therefore, that the discovery of gold in the 
Yukon region should have come like a whirlwind among the 
people and that there should have been such an exodus from the 
southern States to the frozen regions of the North. The figures 
that came to light then about the Alaskan territory were giant 
figures, but they were the exact truth. 

From the days when the Czar of Russia, in his zeal for dis- 
covery, sent his minions to find the fabled land of Vasco da 
Gama to the time of the discovery, the regions lying under the 
Arctic Circle had wooed but few, and those few were those who 
had drifted thither from adjacent territory. The real settlement 
of Alaska may, in a sense, be called the influx of people that 
resulted from the excitement incident to the discovery of gold 
on the Klondike. 

It was an easy matter to compute what had come to the 



24 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

United States from Alaska up to that time, but it was then said 
throughout the land, and in thousands of organs, that the sum 
which would be added to the world's wealth within a few years 
by this territory passed all surmise. Thus hope fanned conjec- 
ture and desire. The wealth to be expected was thought to be 
a pile of money as mountainous and as sublime as the country 
itself. 

It is of interest to note in this connection that this territory 
of Alaska which was then declared to be the world's storehouse 
of gold, was once offered to the United States by the Emperor 
Nicholas, of Russia, for nothing, if our government would 
merely pay for the transfer papers and agree by thus accepting 
the gift from Russia to bar England from coast territory on the 
Pacific. It is also of interest to note that almost similar propo- 
sitions were repeatedly made, for the simple reason that no one 
suspected that enormous wealth lay hidden under the snows of 
this Arctic region. 

Precaution of the Russians. 

More properly speaking, some did suspect the existence of the 
boundless treasure. But those who did, discretely kept it to 
themselves, so that the news did not reach the people who might 
have profited by it. 

It is a singular fact that the existence of gold in quantities 
along the tributaries of the Yukon was known to a few men a 
century and a half ago. The truth has been held back by the 
fur trading companies. They were not after minerals, and they 
feared the ruin of their industry, which was in itself a gold mine. 
Trappers, explorers, and men who lived with the Indians were 
forbidden to tell what they knew on pain of death. 

The Russia Fur Company did summarily shoot one man who 
grew excited with drink and blabbed. That death is still remem- 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 25 

bered in Alaska, having been passed from mouth to mouth, as 
is the manner of unlettered peoples. Other fur companies have 
done nothing to develop the country and have kept their lips 
sealed. They foresaw the effect of a torrent of immigration. 
Such things cannot be hidden, however. The secret is out at last. 

No, such things cannot be kept hidden. They came out, and 
the world had the secret as soon as the first ship from the North 
reached Seattle with the men who had "struck it rich," and 
brought back with them evidence of their good luck in the shape 
of gold dust and nuggets. 

Then a state of affairs resulted comparable with the days of 
'49. It was said that the world's richest deposit of gold had 
been discovered. To the average man in the coast States, who 
had been nurtured virtually on stories of vast fortunes easily 
made in California, this news was not more acceptable than 
exciting. 

It was true that the Yukon region was 2000 miles away, across 
a trackless desert, over snow-bound mountains, and through 
passes beset with dangers. But the fabulous tales of wealth that 
were brought south made the distance and the danger practically 
sink into insignificance and stimulated all with a desire to brave 
the unknown and investigate for themselves the great mineral 
belt in the Klondike region. 

Evidence of Authorities. 

This popular excitement was backed up by the testimony of 
men competent to speak of the country and its resources. They 
declared unqualifiedly that the gold districts on the Yukon and 
Klondike were but a speck in the gold territory of Alaska. 
They said that the placer mining which had resulted in such 
wealth thus far, was but an indication of the larger wealth to be 
acquired by a different process of mining. 



26 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

When the miners find it no longer profitable to wash out the 
gravel they can attack the conglomerate, where they will be 
able to accomplish something by hand labor. Finally, there is 
the original source of gold, the veins in the hills. These must 
be of enormous value. They must lie untouched until the 
proper machinery for obtaining the gold is erected. A clear, 
scientific, and authoritative explanation of the geological condi- 
tions of the Klondike and neighboring gold-bearing rocks is 
furnished by Professor S. F. Emmons, of the United States 
Geolological Survey. Professor Emmons said : 

" The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet 
untouched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles 
found in the river gravels, now being washed by the Klondike 
miners have been torn by the erosion of streams. These parti- 
cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which 
carried the lighter matter onward to the ocean, thus forming, by 
gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. 

Richness of the Soil. 

" Many of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big 
enough to be called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich 
that, as we have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are 
obtained from the washing of a single panful. That is what is 
making the people so wild — the prospect of picking money out 
of the dirt by the handful literally." 

Hardly had the news of the great find been flashed over the 
world when Director of the Mint Preston was asked for his views 
as to the Alaskan gold fields and their influence. His words 
but added fuel to the flames that were then consuming the 
masses. Said he : 

" That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered 
Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 27 

recently brought out by the steamship companies and miners 
returning to the States who went up into the district within the 
last eight months. 

" So far $1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike district has 
been deposited at the 'mints and assay offices of the United 
States, and from information now at hand there are substantial 
reasons for believing from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 additional 
will be brought out by the steamers and returning miners sailing 
from St. Michael's the last of September or early October next. 

" One of the steamship companies states that it expects to 
bring out about $2,000,000 on its steamer sailing from St. Mich- 
ael's on September 30th, and has asked the government to have 
a revenue cutter to act as a convoy through the Rehring Sea. In 
view of the facts above stated I am justified in estimating that 
the Klondike district will augment the world's gold supply in 
1897 nearly $6,000,000." 

Demand for Information. 

As mfght be expected, the prominence given to Alaska by the 
discovery of the gold fields, resulted in a demand for a detailed 
statement of information as to the country in all its relations. 
So little was the country known, however, and so meager were 
the reports that had been brought to civilized communities con- 
cerning it, that the multitude found it difficult to obtain the 
information desired. 

How were they to get there ? What was there of interest or 
of importance connected with the history and purchase of the 
country ? What could be learned of the various industries of 
the territory? What of the fauna and flora? What of the 
mineral wealth. Under what conditions and amenable to what 
laws would the prospectors have to work ? What outfits were 
required for safety, comfort and convenience ? What conditions 



28 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

of domestic life would those who left their homes in the south 
have to face in the unknown regions to which they contemplated 
going ? What of the topography of the country they would 
have to traverse ? 

These and a thousand of other things became matters of 
prime importance, and it is to place such information in the 
hands of the public that this volume is issued. 

A Land of Wonders. 

Literally the land of Alaska is a Land of Wonders, a land dif- 
fering markedly in its natural features from the districts of the 
south and bound to excite the admiration and awe of visitors by 
its natural features. These are so unlike the natural phenomena 
to be beheld in other parts of United States territory that the 
person who ventures into the region of the gold fields will find 
himself practically in a new world. 

As will be seen in the following chapters, it is a country of 
almost boundless extent where the rivers, the mountains, the 
plains, the glaciers, everything, is in keeping with the -distances 
that have to be traversed by the tourist or the prospector. It is 
a land of strange sights and stranger experiences, where much 
that is never dreamed of in the south will be found to be the 
commonplaces of an unknown people. As will be seen in the 
following pages, it is the land of sunless days and moonless 
nights ; where Nature apparently has transposed the natural 
order of things, as is observed in southern latitudes, and inaugu- 
rated a new regime for visitors to wonder and marvel at. 

Everything is mapped out on a gigantic scale and is clothed 
in such a way with its covering of ice and snow, and its strange 
forestation, and is overarched with such peculiar skies, that the 
voyager will not marvel less at what he sees than, to revert 
again to the opening passage from mythology, Jason and his 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 29 

band of adventurers marveled at what they are supposed to have 
seen in the fabled land of the Golden Fleece. 

The Lesson of History. 

The story of the history and purchase is not without its touch 
of romance and its lesson of wisdom. There is certainly food 
for thought in the narrative of a region so boundless in extent 
that was once thought so valueless as to be offered as a gift, 
owing to the ignorance of the people owning it as to its actual 
wealth. Secretary Seward always maintained that it was his 
crowning glory to have purchased the Alaskan territory. He 
and his staunch supporter, Senator Charles Sumner, always 
declared that the country had a future which would make it a 
profitable investment for the United States to purchase it at a far 
higher figure than had to be given. 

The wisdom of their decision in the matter was shown within 
a few years after the transfer was made from Russia to the 
United States, and, as will be set forth in a chapter to follow, 
long before ever gold was discovered in the Klondike region the 
purchase money of the United States was returned over and over 
again, and the wisdom of Seward and his friends was established 
beyond a doubt. 

Incident to the purchase and transfer of the territory, grave 
international questions arose which are well worthy of the atten- 
tion of any one interested in the history of the country and the 
development of its latest possession. These are all carefully set 
forth in the following pages and will be deemed an acceptable 
contribution of information by those who, influenced by the ex- 
citement incident to the recent discovery of gold, may wish to 
invade the northern regions. 

The fauna and flora of the territory, too, are of deep interest, 
especially from the fact that for many years one of the chief 



30 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

sources of wealth in the country was the furs. The Russians, 
who first owned the country, were not slow to recognize the 
value of the fur-bearing animals and to develop the industry of 
hunting them for their pelts. Following the initial steps taken 
by the Russians, John Jacob Astor sent his army of hunters and 
trappers into the northwest and carried the business far beyond 
the limits ever dreamed of by the Russians who began it. 

Of late years, however, trapping in Alaska has, in a measure, 
fallen into abeyance, and in those regions where the miners have 
begun their work the difficulty of securing fresh meat has caused 
them to drive away all game from the districts invaded. Still it 
is of importance to those likely to go to the gold fields to know 
that there is still ample field for the hunter, and that fortunes are 
even yet to be made in trapping the animals for their furs. 

Touching on furs Mr. Olgivie writes : 

" The principal furs procured in the district are the silver-gray 
and black fox, the number of which bears a greater ratio to the 
number of red foxes than in any other part of the country. The 
red fox is very common, and a species called the blue is very 
abundant near the coast. Marten, or sabie, are also numerous, 
as are lynx ; but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown. 

Value of the Fox Skins. 

" It is probable that the value of gray and black fox skins 
taken out of the country more than equals in value all the other 
furs. I could get no statistics concerning this trade for obvious 
reasons. 

" Game is not now as abundant as before mining began, and 
it is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river. 

"A boom in mining would soon exterminate the game in the 
district along the river." 

Directly connected with the discovery of gold and of vast 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 31 

importance to prospective miners, there is much to be learned 
relative to the necessities of those visiting the territory. Prime 
among these items of interest is the matter of getting to the 
diggings. Many have been deterred from making the trip by 
the reported inaccessibility of the gold-bearing region, and the 
interminable stretches of the country that have to be traversed 
by all who seek fortunes in the wilds. 

Route after route has been mapped out until there is scarcely 
a way by which it would be possible to go from Sitka to the 
Yukon, that has not been laid down as more or less practicable. 
It is safe to say that many of the routes outlined for the benefit 
of the public are thoroughly impracticable. The mere enumera- 
tion and explanation of the many courses prospective miners 
may follow, is not less an item of interest than of importance. 

Features of the Journey. 

To reach the distant fields, it will be necessary for any one to 
take an ocean voyage on landlocked arms of the sea, traverse 
trackless prairies, skirt mountain ranges, thread rivers lined with 
falls and rapids, that are a constant menace to life, and even, in a 
region for a large share of the year covered with an unbroken 
blanket of ice and snow, go in sledges or on snow-shoes in a 
way that adds to the fatigues and dangers of the journey. 

Many are the wild schemes that have been devised by so-called 
" tenderfeet," of getting from civilization to the camps, and those 
who have had their interest awakened to the extent of wishing 
to undertake the journey to Alaska, will welcome a careful state- 
ment of the most desirable ways of getting there, and an outline 
of the principal courses which may be followed in the under- 
taking. 

Another matter of importance, and one that is replete with 
interest and romance, is the domestic life of the mining region. 



32 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

The camps of the North, thus far at least, have been unique in 
the great mining enterprises of the world. It is probable that 
the days of 'gy will be attended by no such forms of life and 
forms of depravity as marred the days of '49. Many women, 
and these in a large measure women of culture and education, 
have gone to the north to grace the camp life with their pres- 
ence. They have gone, however, with a legitimate and honor- 
able purpose in view, and the inaccessibility of the region, and 
the dangers and hardships that are reported to attend the jour- 
ney to the diggings have had the result of keeping away the lawless 
classes. 

Camp Life Comparatively Pure. 

As a consequence, camp life is pure and better in every way 
than it was in the days of the gold excitement in California, and 
those who read the following pages will be pleased with the 
remarkable contrast that is pointed out. 

Immediately on the discovery of gold and its announcement 
to the world, grave questions arose as to the international 
boundary between the United States and the British territory, and 
it became a matter of importance to miners and prospectors to 
study the mining laws of two countries, partly to provide against 
personal annoyance and partly to protect their individual inter- 
ests. On the opposite sides of the boundary line different sets of 
laws and regulations were in force, and miners were expected to 
observe the laws obtaining in the respective districts. That these 
laws were often disregarded, goes without saying. 

Canada, in a grasping spirit of gain, proceeded without delay 
to modify her mining laws for her own benefit and to the detri- 
ment of Americans who went to the Klondike district. The 
old dispute as to boundary and territorial jurisdiction arose, and 
for a time there was the prospect of a grave international dis- 
pute. Not content to live and let live, Canada undertook to 




1 ii w 
if 



pup 



33 



34 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

impose a tax on all Americans crossing the real or alleged boun- 
dary line, and this measure was bitterly opposed by the miners. 

Would Keep the Gold. 

Further than this, the Dominion Cabinet devised a scheme to 
limit the flow of gold to the United States from the diggings, 
and this too caused a protest in the entire region, from the fact 
that a large percentage of the miners were Americans who had 
gone thither on the mere chance of winning fortunes, and who 
naturally objected to being taxed for their enterprise and to 
being placed in leading strings as to the disposition of whatever 
they might acquire. In the following pages a digest of the min- 
ing laws of both countries, together with the history of the con- 
tention that arose and its development to the time of publication, 
is given : 

In the wild rush for the diggings incident upon the news 
coming to the more settled States, thousands of people with no 
experience whatever in mining life set out immediately to tempt 
fortune in the territory, Many of the outfits they provided for 
themselves were very curious, and it became necessary for those 
furthering the enterprise of the fortune seekers in a commercial 
way, to make a schedule of the necessary outfits they should 
provide for themselves. - 

For the most part these specially devised outfits received pub- 
lication in the daily press, and then from lack of novelty were 
allowed to fall into abeyance and practically be forgotten. As a 
result, many of those who took their traps and started for the 
overland journey from Juneau and St. Michael's, found themselves, 
when on the way, practically destitute of the things which expe- 
rience showed to be necessary for effective work. 

The fortune seekers were likewise equally without knowledge 
of the methods of working claims, should they secure them. 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 35 

Very few of the thousands who took their way to the Klondike 
region, knew the first thing of how to mine gold. They were 
obliged to trust to fortune and pick up from those already in the 
field the rudiments of the new calling to which they proposed 
to devote themselves. Many, to their sorrow, deplored the fact 
that ignorance or oversight had led them to overlook this im- 
portant preparation for their work. 

" If I had had but a manual telling me what to provide and 
how to do the work on arriving at the diggings, I should have 
deemed myself a fortunate person." This was a saying of 
almost daily occurence wherever the work of mining was under- 
taken by " tenderfeet " from the south. Naturally they worked 
at a disadvantage as compared with the men of experience, 
who flocked to the new fields from Weare, Circle City and 
other camps where mining had been followed for a length of 
time. In the following pages all this information, which those 
who early flocked to the diggings lacked, has been gathered 
together for the instruction and convenience of those who may 
propose to make the journey in the future. 

Food Question Paramount. 

Food is the great problem of life in this district. Cold does 
not cause much worry, for men can wrap themselves warmly 
enough to guard against loss of life from exposure, but few 
things grow in that northern clime and there is a lack of animal 
food which can be sacrificed to support the life of man. Hence 
enormous prices are charged for provisions. 

Reports sent back by the miners in the Klondike region show 
that potatoes are twenty-five cents a pound and bacon forty 
cents. These are the cheapest articles of diet, and others sell 
at proportionate prices based upon the cost of their transporta- 
tion to the gold fields as well as upon their power to sustain life. 



36 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

Starvation is the real danger that confronts the miner who 
goes there in search of gold. Although ten dollars a day is 
paid for labor, no man is given work unless he brings some 
provisions with him, this being due to the fact that the claim owner 
cannot afford to supply his workman with food nor even sell 
him any from his own scanty store. 

The rapid growth In the population of Alaska has made this 
problem seem of sufficient importance to Congress to appropri- 
ate $5000 to pay for an investigation of the food resources, and 
in addition, under the present law, the experiment stations which 
will be established will be entitled to $15,000 per annum for 
their support. 

Field for Enterprises. 

Apart from all consideration of the discovery of gold and the 
excitement incident to it, the Territory of Alaska has a deep 
interest for Americans In many lines of commercial enterprise. 
The remoteness of the country and its inaccessibility, owing to 
poor methods of transit, has thus far had the effect of shrouding 
the region in a certain mystery, which lack of interest, appar- 
ently, has not cleared away. The rise of the Klondike fever 
has opened up to the public the fact that the gold fields are only 
one of a number of interests that claim attention. This is 
shown by such reports as the following, which was made by one 
who spent many years in the interior of the country. 

" It is a prevalent idea that the Alaskan Territory produces 
only gold and things of the sea, but this is wrong. Even in 
Klondike, which is far removed from the mollifying influences of 
the Japanese current, hardy vegetables grow in profusion, 
although cauliflower and asparagus will not ripen. Hay is as 
high as a man's head. When the country comes to be better 
known it will be found capable of making many things for 
humanity now unthought of. 



- 








CHILKOOT PASS, SHOWING SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 37 

" Although for some undiscoverable reason, reports have gone 
abroad that there is no game, the fact remains that there is 
plenty of it. Moose, elk and cariboo, or the American reindeer, 
abound. Every river is stocked with fish. No man should 
starve who has a hook and a flint-lock musket. When we were 
school children we used to read of the musk-oxen of Alaska, 
but none are there. The musk-ox is not found in America any- 
where west of the great continental divide, or Rocky Mountains." 

Another Fine Possibility. 

Professor Allen thinks Alaska has before it a great future as a 
stock-raising country, and declares that stock can be raised there 
as successfully as in Montana or Wyoming. At present, how- 
ever, there are practically no domestic animals in the country, 
the chief being reindeer. Explorers will experiment and learn 
what domestic animals are best adapted to the climate. 

Sheep, pigs and goats can live there with proper treatment, 
and it is thought that, in the islands of the coast, they will 
flourish all winter on the wild grasses, even if left to their 
own devices. Farther north and in the interior it is probable 
they would have to be sheltered during the two or three months of 
the severest weather. Poultry can probably be raised to advantage. 

It has been the aim in the following pages to gather together, 
from every possible source, such information relative to the min- 
eral wealth, the fisheries, the agricultural development, the 
ethnology of the country and all similar lines of interest such as 
would naturally be sought by a public whose interest had been 
aroused by the recent developments in the Territory, and to give 
as fully as possible the story of the rise of the Klondike fever, 
with all the wealth of romantic experiences and fortunate dis- 
coveries that has been made public since Alaska stepped so 
prominently into notice. 



38 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 

The narrative, in a sense, will of necessity read like a chapter 
of fiction, for the camp life of the Klondike, like the camp life 
of similar regions, has its light and shade, its amenities and 
hardships, its peculiarities and its streaks of fortune, that will 
ever be of interest to those who have a love of the unusual and 
the unexpected. Miners' experiences, in a district so remote, 
must ever have the element of oddity, and this, coupled with 
the peculiar characteristics of life in a region which is little less 
than a new world, makes the story of the Yukon, as the follow- 
ing pages will show, one virtually of romance. 

What Gold Seekers Will Find. 

The Argonauts of 1898 will see that their contemplated 
journey is as likely to be one of good luck as of disappointment ; 
that the journey is as likely to be one of delight as of hardship; 
and that, while they are leaving home with all its comforts and 
conveniences, and society with its pleasures, for a country devoid 
for the most part of the experiences of ordinary life, they are 
going to a wilderness, nevertheless, in which they will find, dis- 
guised it may be, cut short it may be, a fair quota of what they 
have been used to. 

Further, the Argonauts of 1898 will not be content with the 
answers to their questions that literature will give them. They 
will want and long to read the great unwritten book of Alaska on 
the plains and glaciers, along the rivers and passes of the vast 
territory. Their desire will simply be whetted by printed stories 
and their longing will be that of Joaquin Miller. Says the Poet 
of the Sierras : 

" You want to ask questions. You wonder why the other 
islands of black-white mountains, a thousand of them on either 
hand, so stupendous, so steep, so sublimely majestic, mysterious, 
solemn and silent, are so voiceless, so utterly empty and still, 



LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 39 

" You want to ask questions of Alaska, but Alaska is the 
sphinx with a forehead of gold. We have now steamed up the 
straits and out and away from under the mantle of fire and gold 
that hung above Juneau and Douglas City — a mantle woven in 
some sort from the smoke and chemicals of the great gold mine 
— and the morning is crisp, blue, white, clear as a bell. 

" If one cared to look on the gray side of the situation, he 
might easily write of the location and all the land about " the 
abomination of desolation." But, on the contrary, the scene is 
grand, grand, sublimely grand, and the air is sweet, healthful 
and invigorating as wine. The heavens' breath smells wooingly 
here. You never saw snow so white anywhere as here. 

" White as snow ; whiter than any miller can whiten. This 
is because this is a land of granite ; no dust in the air as in Cali- 
fornia or Colorado ; no tall trees to scatter bits of bark and 
leaves and litter through the air and over the snow. One con- 
stantly thinks of the transfiguration all along this land of white- 
ness and blue ; white clouds, white snow, blue seas and blue 
skies. Heavens ! Had I but years to live here and lay my 
hand upon this color, this fearful and wonderful garment of the 
most high God ! " 



CHAPTER II. 
Spread of the Klondike Fever. 

Arrival of the Portland with More than a Ton of Gold on Board — Miners 
Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines — First Great 
Gold Craze — Prospecting in Early Days — Rich Gold Discovery on 
Bonanza Creek — Argonauts Flock to the Steamers — Scene3 at the 
Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to the Rush — Millions of 
Money and Thousands of Men — Craze in Wall Street — Royalty Affected 
— Money in Grub-stakes — Joaquin Miller Under Way — "Lucky" 
Baldwin After Mother Lode — Bright and Dark Sides of Story. 

WHEN the steamer Portland reached Seattle from St. 
Michael's, Alaska, on July 17, 1897, bringing not 
only the verified news of the great gold discoveries in 
the upper Yukon region, but nearly a million and three quarters 
in gold "dust" as freight, beside a cabin full of bronzed miners 
to bear witness to the Golconda-like find, not only the Pacific 
coast, but the whole northern country as well, whether British 
or American, began to go stark, staring mad over the well-nigh 
incredible reports from the new diggings. Some of the miners 
had with them $75,000 and even twice that sum, and not a man 
had less than $3000, every ounce taken from the placers of the 
Klondike within the year. 

Over a Ton of Gold. 

More than a ton of gold was on board the steamer as It 
came up the sound. In the captain's cabin were three big 
chests full of the yellow " dust," and the large safe had no 
room for more of the precious nuggets which had been taken 
out of the ground in less than three months of last winter. 
In size the nuggets ranged from that of a pea to a guinea 
hen's egg. 
40 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 41 

Surely, it was enough to set the land wild with excitement. 

And yet, it was no news there was gold in and near Alaska, and 

in fabulously paying quantities. The marvelous tales of wealth 

sent out by the California pioneers were no less wonderful than 

those brought back by men who had braved the last cold season 

in the frigid mineral belt. The great Klondike strike was made 

in the early winter of 1 896-97, but nothing was known of it in 

the United States until June 15, 1897, when the Excelsior 

arrived in San Francisco laden with Klondike miners who were 

in turn laden with gold. Then came the Portland and the 

" craze." 

" Chechockoes " Make Their Piles. 

In speaking of the miners who came out on the Portland, 
Captain Kidston was enthusiastic. 

" These men," said Captain Kidston, "are every one what the 
Yukoners call ' Chechockoes ' or newcomers, and up to last 
winter they had nothing. To-day you see them wealthy and 
happy. Why, on the fifteen days' trip from St. Michael's 1 
never spent a pleasanter time in my life. These fortunate people 
felt so happy that anything would suffice for them, and I could 
not help contrasting them with the crowd of gold hunters I 
took with me on the last trip up. They were grumblers, with- 
out a cent in the world, and nothing on the boat was good 
enough for them. Some of these successful miners do not even 
own claims. They have been working for other men for $ 1 5 a 
day, and thus have accumulated small fortunes. Their average 
on this boat is not less than $10,000 to the man, and the very 
smallest sack is $3000. It is held by C. A. Branan, of Seattle, 
a happy young fellow just eighteen years old. There is no 
country on earth like the Yukon." 

Gold has been a familiar metal to the Alaskan aborigines for 
a time that is old even in their legends, but, lacking civilization, 



42 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

they lacked also the knowledge of the highest use of the pre- 
cious metal, and the yellow nuggets which they gathered from 
the beds of their Arctic streams played no other part than that 
of savage ornaments until the land passed under the dominion 
of the white man. 

The earliest white voyagers to the Aleutian coasts had their 
cupidity kindled, like the soldiers of Cortez and Pizarro, by the 
bits of gold shining here and there among the barbarous trap- 
pings of the natives who came, half-menacing, to the iron-girt 
coasts to barter with them for the rare treasures of sharp knives 
and gaudy fabrics, but, beyond the trivial ounces secured in 
shorewise trade, it was years after white sails had become familiar 
sights, winging their intricate way among the devious channels 
of the island-dotted coast, that civilized men began to think it 
worth the peril to brave the dangers of the iron land in quest of 
the golden stores Nature had so lavishly treasured in the strong- 
holds of her cliffs and torrents. 

Behring Found Gold. 

When Behring, after whom the great Northwestern sea beyond 
the Aleutian Island is named, discovered and explored the 
Alaskan coast in 1741, he found gold, but he found, as befitted 
the climate and people, more furs and, with auriferous supplies 
nearer home in the convict-worked mines of the Czar's domain, 
the country was granted for fur-gathering purposes alone by the 
Emperor Paul to the Russo-American Fur Company, and with 
it remained until the Seward purchase in 1867 transferred it to 
the United States for a consideration (long since repaid in full) 
of $7,200,000. 

Mineral riches were hinted at, however, by the early explor- 
ers. In 1885 the director of the mint credited Alaska with 
$300,000 in gold and $2000 in silver, most of the precious 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 43 

metal coming from Douglas Island. In 1896 the total output 
of lode and placer mines in Alaska was put at $4,670,000 and 
in 1897 the gold output, it is estimated, will reach $10,000,000, 
or nearly twice that of Colorado in 1892. 

The first great gold craze in the extreme Northwest came in 
1858. The Kootenai region was famous a few years ago, per- 
petuating the fame of the Frazer River mines. The Cariboo 
region on the fifty-third parallel, proved a steady and constant 
producer. Placers were also worked on the Peace river. In 
the 6o's there was a period when the annual production of the 
northwest province exceeded $2,000,000, the highest figure 
being $3,735,850. Through the exhaustion of the known 
deposits, however, the product fell off until, in 1890, it was less 
than half a million. 

Prospecting in 1883. 

Charles McConky, Ben Beach, George Marx and Richard 
Poplin set out from Juneau in the spring of 1883 to prospect 
the interior for gold. The rich deposits which were making the 
Treadwell mine famous had stimulated inquiry among practical 
miners, and science had answered that the mother lode lay 
somewhere waiting to be tapped in the fastnesses of the giant 
Rockies. The quartette meant to find it. Crossing the divide 
in the early spring, they reached the lakes which constitute 
the head waters of the Yukon River, while they were yet frozen, 
and remained there building their boats preparatory to going 
down the river as soon as the opportunity availed. The boats 
built and the ice having disappeared, they continued their 
journey on the unknown waters of the Yukon. 

Upon arriving at the mouth of Stewart River and being favor- 
ably impressed that their fortunes lay in that direction, they 
proceeded to stem this stream in the hopes of finding things 



44 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 



more favorable, as they had seen nothing that they had con- 
sidered diggings up to that time. They had traveled about four 
miles up this river when they came to a bar that carried gold 
of a fine order, and then continued up the river, finding many 
bars which were afterwards worked to the satisfaction of the 



owners. 
Dr. C. 



F. Dickenson, of Kadiak Island, which lies just at the 




A PROSPECTORS TENT. 

mouth of Cook's Inlet, says : " When I left Kodiak, two weeks 
ago, the people were leaving all that section of country and 
flocking in the direction of Klondike. In a way, the situation is 
appalling, for many of the industries are left practically without 
the means of operation. 

" Mines that were paying handsomely at Cook's Inlet have 
been deserted. 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 45 

" In my opinion there are just as good placer diggings to be 
found at Cook's Inlet as in the Klondike region. 

" There is not a foot of ground in all that country that does 
not contain gold in more or less appreciable quantities. 

" There is room there for thousands of men, and there is cer- 
tainly no better place in the world for a poor man." 

There is good reason for believing from the reports of men 
well acquainted with the whole region that there is gold to be 
found anywhere in Alaska. The streams flowing into the great 
salt channel which bounds the coast below Sitka bear many 
auriferous evidences, and several of them, as for example in the 
neighborhood of Fort Wrangal, have been worked successfully 
heretofore. Some, indeed, have been literally " washed " out. 

J. W. McCormick's Strike. 

The richest gold placers in the upper Yukon were discovered 
by a white man in x\ugust, 1896. The find was due to the 
reports of Indians. J. W. McCormick, a Scotchman, who had 
been in the employ of William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, 
for seven years in the same region, was the lucky prospector. 
He located a claim on the branch of the Klondike, which has 
since become known to fame as Bonanza Creek. McCormick 
located late in August, 1896, but had to cut some logs for the 
mill to get a few pounds of provisions to enable him to begin 
work on his claim. The fishing of Klondike having totally failed 
him, he returned with a few weeks' provisions for himself, his 
wife and brother-in-law (Indians) and another Indian in the last 
days of August, and immediately set about working his claim. 
As he was very short of appliances he could only put together 
a rather defective apparatus to wash the gravel with. The gravel 
itself he had to carry in a box on his back from thirty to one 
hundred feet. Notwithstanding this the three men, working 




PLACER MINING ON THE KLONDIKE RIVER. 



46 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 47 

very irregularly, washed out $1200 in eight days, and McCormick 
asserts with reason that had he had proper facilities it could have 
been done in two days, besides having several hundred dollars 
more gold which was lost in the tailings through defective 
apparatus. 

On the same creek two men rocked out $75 in about four 
hours, and it is asserted that two men in the same creek took 
out $4008 in two days with only two lengths of sluice boxes. 

A branch of Bonanza named Eldorado has prospected mag- 
nificently, and another branch named Tilly Creek has prospected 
well ; in all there are some four or five branches to Bonanza 
which have given good prospects. There were about one hun- 
dred and seventy claims staked on the main creek in the summer 
of '97, and the branches are good for about as many more, 
aggregating say three hundred and fifty claims, which will 
require over one thousand men to work properly. 

Spread of Klondike Fever. 

The Klondike fever spread wherever telegraph wires and 
newspapers disseminated the wonderful news of the marvelous 
diggings. 

The Londoner, educated to gold fevers by the Rand and 
Barney Barnato, began besieging the trans-Atlantic transporta- 
tion companies for intelligence about Alaska and the gold region 
of his own Northwest Territory. Experienced gold miners from 
South Africa thought they saw a bigger strike than the one which 
had lured them to the Cape of Good Hope. The new Canadian 
Trans- Atlantic line began work at once on a fleet of new boats. 

In America, capitalists and poor men, Argonauts and " tender- 
feet" went well-nigh crazy — literally daft with the mania for 
gold. In the cities of the Pacific coast employes in all industries 
threw down their tools and abandoned their pursuits to go to 



48 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

Alaska and dig in the river bed for the shining nuggets. In 
Tacoma and Seattle telegrams were received from New York 
and London inquiring how many hundred men could be 
equipped on short notice for a journey to the gold fields. The 
street car employes of Tacoma, at a mass meeting, selected nine 
men to go to the Klondike for the benefit of the rest to prospect 
and locate claims, and raised a sufficient sum to equip and main- 
tain them. 

Hardly had the news of the Klondike strike got fairly started 
in its meteor-like circuit of the country than Seattle and Tacoma 
began to fill with men and women hurrying to the diggings. 
In a week beds could not be had at the hotels, and still the 
throngs of gold-seekers poured in from all directions except the 
West, and struggled and schemed and, in a bloodless way, fought 
for fabulous priced chances to sail for the Yukon mines. First 
cabin, steerage, 'tween-decks or "on deck" — it was all one to 
these feverish Argonauts so long as they found themselves 
under way to Eldorado. 

Scene on " Steamer Day." 

Here is a sample description of a Tacoma scene on " steamer 
day," August 7th, when the Willamette cast off for Alaska: 

" The most excited and largest crowd of people that has ever 
gathered on the ocean docks in this city, on any occasion, 
gathered to-day to see the steamer Willamette off for Alaska. 
Four hundred people boarded the vessel here, and their friends 
and relatives and thousands of sight-seers gathered to see the 
start. The passengers came from all parts of the State and a 
sprinkling from all over the United States. The baggage was 
carried mostly on horseback, only a few mules being used. 
The pack trains marched through the city in droves, and Grand 
Army men said it reminded them of war times. 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 



49 



"All sorts of outfits for making money were taken aboard, 
from a bakery to gambling tables. Nearly every person aboard 
has a list of from six to three dozen persons who had been 
promised letters. Fathers parted from families and young men 

from their sweethearts at 
the docks. Not a few of 
the men have pledged 
their families and friends 
that they will not return 
from the Eldorado of the 
North, until they have 
amassed a fortune, if it 
takes ten years to accom- 
plish it. 

"Aboard this vessel, 
Tacoma sent forward its 
first installment of physi- 
cians and surgeons to the 
Klondike. The doctors 
will dig for nuggets, if 
they cannot get patients." 
Here is another scene 
on "steamer day," de- 
scribed by an eye-witness : 
" The Alki started for 
Alaska this afternoon with 
125 passengers, 800 sheep 
off for the mines. a nd 50 horses. Crazed 

with the gold fever and the hope of reaching Klondike quickly, 
the passengers bade good-bye to thousands on shore, who were 
crazed because they could not go. Food, comfort, sleep were 
ignored in the fierce desire to get to the gold fields. Those 




50 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

who could not go to Alaska stayed on the dock all day, shaking 
hands with those who were going, and gazing with eyes of chagrin 
and envy on the lucky ones as the steamer started for the North. 
" There was grim pathos in the scene on the dock while the 
goldhunters were waiting for permission to go on board, Some 
were taking passage who would surely never leave Alaska alive. 
They had heard stories of the returned miners, that health was 
an absolute requisite in the terrible climate of the Klondike 
district. They smiled and new better. 

The Ruling Passion. 

" One man said he was suffering from lung trouble, but that 
he might as well die making a fortune as to remain on the shores 
of Puget Sound and die in poverty. 

" Not an inch of room was left on the Alki. It was tested to 
its utmost capacity. Excited men, drunk with visions of fortunes, 
were huddled among the sheep, horses and baggage. Space 
was valuable, and a cattle pen had been constructed on the main 
deck, which had hitherto been reserved for passengers. The 
sheep were put on board only after the crowd had been driven 
back from the steamer. On the main deck the horses and sheep 
will stay until the journey by water is ended. When port is 
reached the pen will be reduced to its original state and the 
lumber put to new use." 

The same day the Willamette steamed out of Tacoma the 
Queen sailed from Seattle with 400 passengers for Dyea. And 
over twenty steamers were then due to sail before September 1st 
and passage on any one was already at a premium. New 
charters were being made daily and three schooners and even 
two scows were pressed into service in Seattle the day the Queen 
sailed. It is estimated Seattle has supplied already 3500 pros- 
pectors and Tacoma 1600. 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 51 

Chicago became a centre for Klondike news and outfitting at 
the start of the craze. Over five hundred men had either left 
the Windy City, or were practically ready to leave, for the 
Klondike, at the end of the first week in August, and the fever 
had only been in the air three weeks. All sorts and descriptions 
of men were in the ranks of prospectors — lawyers, doctors, 
merchants, bankers, farmers and city men, stalwart giants and 
men whose physique gave promise rather of a grave beside the 
trail than of lasting long enough to " wash " a fortune out of the 
frozen Alaskan gravel. And there were women, too, in plenty, 
considering the hardships to be encountered, who were just as 
anxious to get into the wilderness to locate claims as any man 
who wore boots in the crowd. 

Deny Women and Weaklings. 

In fact, so great did the rush of women and of men of seem- 
ingly weak physique become, that many transportation agents at 
last refused to book any but those evidently the most robust, 
lest they should die enroute to Dawson. This order was later 
revoked as to women. 

Among those who went from Chicago in early August were 
William H. Hubbard, in the party of Mrs. Eli Gage and her 
brother, W. W. Weare, going to Dawson to take the manage- 
ment of the banking system to be established by the North 
American Transportation and Trading Company in every mining 
camp in Alaska ; Dr. G. E. Meryman, Gustave Peterson and his 
two sons, Daniel Wright, Joseph Roman, F. J. Richardson, 
Mortimer Stevens, Dr. C. W. Chamberlain and wife, F. M. 
Sessoies and wife, F. H. Searle, E. H. Craig and Miss Alice 
Ross. Miss Minnie Goddard, the well-known organist and 
pianiste of Aurora, 111. ; Miss Grace Allaire, daughter of the 
late Dr. Allaire, of the same city, and Mrs. Ira W. Lewis, of 



52 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

Dixon, 111., were three refined and dainty who left with a party 
of Chicago to cast in their lot with the masculine argonauts in 
the land of frozen gravel and marvelous "pans." 

Montreal sent out three parties the first and second weeks in 
August, numbering altogether some fifty men. They were in 
charge respectively of Ernest Genest, representing the Canadian- 
Yukon Company; C. J. McQuaig, for the Montreal- London 
Gold and Silver Development Company, limited ; and W. H. 
Scroggie, the St. Catherine Street dry-goods merchant, whose 
companoins were principally his employes. 

Ex-Governor John H. McGraw and General E. M. Carr left 
Seattle for Alaska on the first steamer out after the Portland 
arrived with its golden cargo — as luck would have it, the steamer 
was the treasure boat, the Portland itself. They went as the 
representatives of the Yukon, Caribou, British Columbia Gold 
Mining Development Company, limited, capital $ 1,000,000. 
J. Edward Addicks, of Delaware, is the head of the company 
and Senator John L. Wilson is interested in it. 

Craze in Wall Street. 

On July 31st, so early had the Klondike fever reached the 
great money centres of the land, the following report from Wall 
Street was sent over the country : 

" Wall Street has been seized by a genuine ' '49 ' gold fever 
as a result of the discoveries in the Klondike. Men who have 
mined and made money; men who have mined and lost money; 
men who have always thought they might speculate a little in 
mining, and men who have had a complete abhorrence of mining 
— all seem to be affected the same way. More than half a dozen 
banking concerns, and as many individuals in Wall Street, whose 
standing in the financial world is the very best, have actually 
turned away from $5000 to $125,000 each which clients and 




MINERS' CABINS NEAR DAWSON CITY 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 53 

customers wished to invest, under their guidance and supervision 
in the great gold fields of Alaska. Ladenburg, Thalman & Co., 
H. L. Horton & Co., Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., R. P. Lounds- 
berry & Co., and Charles Head & Co., are some of these firms 
who have more money offered them for investment in the Klon- 
dike than they have desired. The prejudice against mining is 
waning. Only recently bankers who dabbled in mines were 
looked upon with about as much suspicion by their customers 
and the money world as a bank clerk or cashier who regularly 
played faro, roulette and the races. But that is wearing off and 
the best concerns are beginning to mine in one way or another. 
Among these various down-town banking and business houses 
who are either interested in the Klondike, who have sent a rep- 
resentative there for themselves or customers, or who have made 
up their minds to do so, are R. P. Loundsberry & Co., N. Gug- 
genheim Sons, Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., Nicholas Chemical 
Company, H. B. Hollins & Co., H. L. Horton & Co., Charles 
Head & Co., and Seligman & Co. 

Heard from Grub-stakers. 

Seven men living near Trenton, N. J., " grub-staked" by busi- 
ness men of Trenton and merchants of Philadelphia, started in 
April for the Alaska gold fields. W. J. Hibbert headed the 
expedition. He writes that they have laid claim to eighty miles 
of dredger land, and have received a grant of twenty-one placer 
claims, which will be added to the dredger lands. He says that 
the ground is rich, and within a mile and a half of their claim 
a man by the name of Lereno, after working five days, found, 
on clearing up, that he was worth $40,000 in gold. Another 
story told by Hibbert in his letter is that another miner, after 
two months' work, was $150,000 to the good. 

Daniel Guggenheim, of the firm of M. Guggenheim & 



54 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

Sons, who has large smelting interests, when seen at his Long 
Branch cottage, confirmed the reported discoveries in the Yukon 
country, and prophesied that the new fields would yield far in 
excess of even present roseate indications. He said : 

" For some time my firm has had expert mining engineers at 
work in Alaska, and their reports leave no doubt that the Yukon 
gold fields will prove the richest in the world. My opinion is 
that as soon as the country has been opened up and shipping 
facilities furnished the output of gold will be simply enormous. 
As the production of gold increases silver will be enhanced 
in value. This I regard as certain." 

English Royalty Affected. 

English royalty fell before the golden idol of the Klondike. 
No less a personage than the Duke of Fife, son-in-law of the 
Prince of Wales, subscribed to an incorporation formed in Lon- 
don for the purpose of exploring the Klondike region and pur- 
chasing such mines as its accredited representatives may decide 
are worth the investment. 

The enterprise will be known as the Klondike Exploration 
Company, limited. It is stated that the company in which the 
Duke of Fife is interested will operate along lines similar to 
the British South Africa Company. 

But great as was the number, considering the time available 
for catching a good hard case of the Klondike fever, who had 
succeeded in getting away for the diggings in person before the 
marvelous news from the Northwest was yet a month old ; they 
were but a fraction of the total, who had fallen ready victims 
to the " placer malady." 

Many hundreds of men and many more hundreds of women, who 
were crazy to own some kind of an interest in the wonderful gold 
fields, but who were prevented by other business, by family cares, 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 55 

by sickness of a strictly pathological kind, by poverty, or by 
other insuperable reasons, from taking personal part with the 
adventurers going into the Klondike, had syndicated their money 
with their friends and arranged to send " grub-stakers " into the 
new Galconda, hoping thus vicariously, at least, to partake of 
the profits, if they could not share in the hardships and the 
hazards of gold seeking. 

It is estimated that at least five times as many people put up 
their money on " grub-stakes " as attempted to become advent- 
urers in person, and it would require a much larger figure to 
express the probable ratio of the money applied to outfitting 
representative prospectors and the cash spent in personal equip- 
ment by intending argonauts. 

Besides this, in estimating the prevalence of the gold craze in 
terms of dollars and cents, account must be taken of the mush- 
room-like appearance of "Mining Co-operations" and "Placer 
Syndicates " and "Poor Men's Chances," to say nothing of the 
host of legitimate incorporated mining or prospecting or develop- 
ment concerns, which by presenting shares at low figures, draw 
tens of thousands of dollars from thousands of pockets into their 
coffers and which quite as emphatically represented the virulence 
of the Klondike fever as did the steamer lists, or the names of 
those who meant to brave the Chilkoot Pass with the slogan 
of "Klondike or Bust." 

Table of New Companies. 

No better illustration of the extent and vigor of the Klondike 
craze can be given than is exhibited in the following table of 
companies organized or in process of formation for the develop- 
ment of the gold fields in the upper Yukon region. The total 
capitalization of the different syndicates foots up $164,512,500. 
After allowing for the regular syndicate grain of salt, the 



56 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 



remaining total is still vast enough to indicate that no small 
portion of the American temperate zone has gone daft over the 
reported strikes in the Arctic mountains. 

The stream of humanity, setting toward the north pole, is a 
veritable exodus toward a new Land of Promise. Up to August 
8th, over 8000 men are officially reported to have started for the 
Klondike, or made arrangements to do so. 



Statistics of Millions. 



Here are the naked figures : 



Companies. Town. 

Bohemian Klondike Syndicate Baltimore . . 

Three Syndicates Boston . . . 

Cudahy-Healy-Yukon Klondike Mining 

Company Chicago . . . 

Alaska Transportation and Development 

Company Chicago . . . 

Transportation and mining company in 

processof organization, not yet named . Chicago. . . 

Wilkins Syndicate Cleveland . . 

Unnamed syndicate Cleveland . . 

Two companies Cripple Creek 

Alaska-Klondike Gold Mining and De- 
velopment Company Col. Springs. 

Council Bluffs Mining and Exploration 
Company Council Bluffs 

Six companies Denver . . . 

Indiana Mining Company Indianapolis 

General Mining and Developing Co. . . Kansas City . 

Herald Employees Lexington . 

Lincoln Gold and Improvement Co. . . Lincoln . . . 

Acme Development Company New York . 

Yukon-Caribou British Columbia Gold 

Mining Development Company . . . New York . 

Northwest Mining and Trading Company. New York . 

Exploration Syndicate New York . 



No. who 
Capital- have left 
ization. for gold 

fields. 


. Not decided 


120 


$50,000 


150 


. 25,000,000 


500 


5,000,000 . 




. 100,000,000 . 




4,000 . 




400 . 


. 


300,000 


30 


1,000,000 . 




100,000 


8 


2,825,000 


35 


200,000 . 




. Not anncd. 


10 


1,000 


12 


50,000 


11 


150,000 


100 


5,000,000 . 




5,000,000 . 




100,000 . 





SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 



57 



The Gold Syndicate New York . . 5,000,000 

The New York and Alaska Gold Explo- 
ration and Trading Company New York . . 1,000,000 

Norse- American Gold Company (Ltd.) .New York . . 750,000 
The Philadelphia and Alaska Gold Mining 

Syndicate Philadelphia . 500,000 

Alaska Gold Company Pittsburg . . . 1,000,000 

Pittsburg- Alaskan Company Pitisburg . . . 25,000 

Four transportation companies Portland, Ore. ^ 

Two trading companies Portland, Ore. > 500,000 

Six mining companies Portland. Ore. J 

Register employees Richmond, Ky. 1,200 

McDonald Syndicate St. Louis . . . 50,000 

Minnesota-Ontario Gold Mining Co. . . St. Paul . . . 1,000,000 

Klondike Mining Company, St. Paul . . St. Paul ... 900 
Yukon-Klondike Mining and Investment 

Company St. Paul . . 5,000,000 

Eight companies San Francisco . 800,000 

Unnamed syndicate San Francisco . 1,000,000 

Klondike Commercial and Transportation 

Company Seattle .... 1,000,000 

Seattle and Yukon Commercial Company. Seattle . . . . ■ 1,000,000 

Alaska Transportation Company . . . .Seattle .... 100,000 

Dod well and Corlill Steamship Company. Tacoma . . . . 250,000 

Twenty -one syndicates Tacoma. . . . 755,000 



52 



520 



1,400 



3,500 



1,600 



Old Miners Catch the Fever. 
Old miners on the Pacific slope supplied some of the earliest 
victims of the fever and some of the first recruits in the rapidly- 
swelling army of the gold seekers. The rush to the Klondike 
seriously affected the mine owners on the mother lode in the 
vicinity of Senora, Jackson and Sutter Creek, California, and 
threatened to cause the closing down of the mines in Calaveras, 
Amador and Tualumne counties. A large party of skilled 
miners from this region sailed from San Francisco for Alaska on 
August 7th, and another party was then forming which expected 
to go in by way of Dyea before the winter grasp of September 
was upon the passes. The Oneida and Kennedy mines, near 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 59 

Jackson, had lost the majority of their men before the news by 
the Portland was ten days old. 

Joaquin Miller Among the First. 

Nor was the rush to the new diggings confined to the wage- 
earning miners. One of the first of the '49ers to respond was 
Joaquin Miller, " the Poet of the Sierras." The steamer Port- 
land made port from St. Michael's with its wonderful cargo of 
yellow dust and nuggets on July 17th, and on the 26th of the 
same month the venerable and veteran miner of the earliest 
California and Nevada and Idaho gold fields had forsaken his 
cozy home nestled among the foothills of Oakland, and was 
steaming out of the harbor of Victoria, B. C, on the good ship 
City of Mexico, bound with pick, pan and pack like any other 
lover of roughing it, on the long road to Dyea and over the 
Chilkoot Pass to the Klondike. 

Some of his impressions enroute will be found elsewhere in 
this volume, and their bright, buoyant wording shows the Klon- 
dike fever could set the blood throbbing as fiercely in senile 
veins as in the arteries of the most recklessly sanguine lad of a 
" tenderfoot " that ever went to the mines to learn that all is not 
gold that glitters. One of the aged poet's fancies was to pack 
his own outfit in and earn his living by day's work, and to make 
his election sure he carried a ridiculously small sum of money 
with him, though he had a buckskin bag all ready for the 
" dust " he expected certainly to find even more lavishly distri- 
buted in the Yukon valley than in California in the golden days 
when the bed of every stream held a yellow fortune. 

E. J. Baldwin, of San Francisco, better known as " Lucky " 
Baldwin, millionaire hotel man, miner, landowner, turfman and 
orange grower, himself a California argonaut of the days of '49, 
who had had hard attacks in their time of the Washoe and 



60 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

Frazer River gold fevers, was another of the first " big " men on 
the coast to catch the Alaska fever. 

The millionaire announced his intention to go to the Klon- 
dike, not to seek the great nuggets and coarse grains of gold 
found in the creek beds, but to find, if possible, the ledge, the 
mother lode from which all this treasure comes. He will not 
go in until spring, however. 

" I will not stop at Klondike," said he, "but will push right 
into the mountains, where I am sure there must be rich quartz 
ledges. Ample machinery will be shipped to Dawson or else- 
where, if I succeed in locating a paying claim. I think the big 
fortunes will be made in the quartz districts and not in the 
placers, which will be sure to give out if so many thousands of 
people will persist in rushing into the country. 

" I am going next spring," continued Mr. Baldwin, " and 
expect to take twenty-five or thirty husky young men with me 
who can work and endure the hardships. I am seventy-one 
years old, but still feel strong enough to do a little prospecting. 
It is also my intention to take a lot of machinery along for lode 
mining. My notion of the situation there is that the placer 
mining they are carrying on is an indication that there is gold in 
large quantities back in the mountains. I shall hunt out these 
deposits, and, equipped with modern machinery, will do a regu- 
lar mining business. I am convinced the gold is there ; conse- 
quently, I will be taking no long-risk chances." 

" Lucky's " Idea of an Outfit. 

Mr. Baldwin also gave his ideas of the provisions a man 
starting to the Klondike should provide himself with. He 
excluded coffee and ham from the supplies, would fill a box with 
articles of this sort, giving the amount for one month's use : 

Chocolate, 7^ pounds, or tea, 3^ pounds; rolled oats, 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 61 

pounds ; navy beans, 22^ pounds, or bacon, 37^ pounds ; 
flour, 30 pounds ; salt, 3 y^ pounds ; pickles, 60 cents' worth ; 
cayenne pepper, y^ pound for eighteen months, four cakes dry 
yeast. 

Wonderful Letter of G. H. Cole. 

Some of the stones told about the marvelous golden wealth 
of the Klondike would be ample excuse for the worst recorded 
cases of the fever. Here is one written from Dawson City by 
G. H. Cole to his wife in Seattle, which speaks for itself. Mr. 
Cole says : 

"This is a wonderful country. There is enough gold here to 
load a steamboat. Lots of men have made all they want since 
last fall, and gone out. There is hardly a day but there is from 
one to half a dozen come from the mines with all the gold they 
can carry. One man had so much he had to get several men to 
help him carry it out. He gave the mine to a friend to do what 
he wanted with it. He was a Seattle man. 

" Some of the men who have been out to the mines say there 
is more gold here than they ever saw in their lives, and some of 
the old miners, who have been in most all the mining countries 
in the world, say it beats anything they ever saw. Around 
some of the camps they have it piled up like farmers have their 
wheat, and in other camps they have all their cooking utensils 
full of gold and standing in corners as if it were dirt. Some 
are taking out $100,000 a day. Old miners say there has been 
enough gold located to dig up for the next twenty years." 

Many and queer are the schemes that have grown out of the 
Klondike craze, and the more and the queerer they are the more 
virulent is the attack. The very air is full of schemes ; some 
alluring, some preposterous, more merely audacious. The gold 
fever marked the heyday of the dreamer and the enthusiast, not 
to say the crank. 



62 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

But some attention is worth paying to these projects of vision- 
aries if for no other reason than to show how far-reaching and 
insidious is the Klondike mania — for dreamers have little merit 
unless there are enough of people who believe in dreams. 

"If I were to give you the details of some of the schemes 
that have been submitted to me recently for making money in 
the Klondike," said one Chicago capitalist, "you would think 
some insane asylum had been thrown open, and the inmates 
turned loose. Some of the ideas are not bad in themselves, but 
are impracticable owing to the conditions of the country. Others 
are simply the rankest form of lunacy, while others yet are 
downright swindles. People who would not even think of sug- 
gesting a fraud in connection with ordinary business have no 
hesitation in boosting up a fraud in a mining boom. As a rule, 
however, the irresponsible schemers are merely wild-eyed cranks, 
who have an honest confidence in their own plans." 

Traps for Ready Money. 

Inventors, speculators, promoters, and prospectors are going 
about like modern genii with propositions for making everybody 
immensely rich. Acquiring great wealth depends solely upon 
immediate use of a little ready money. Shares in the Consoli- 
dated Trans-Alaskan Gopher Company, offered at one dollar each, 
will return dividends of ten dollars a minute as soon as the com- 
pany gets to work. The idea is to take contracts for tunneling 
claims with trained gophers. Nothing is impossible, nothing 
chimerical. 

Men with seedy garments and faces bearing all too plainly the 
marks of hunger and want, rub elbows with portly, well-fed 
individuals and talk glibly about millions to be had in various 
ways. Newspapers are full of advertisements calling for finan- 
cial aid in developing Alaskan projects, offices of transportation 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 63 

lines are besieged by hundreds of impecunious beings who seek 
to make their wits pay the price of passage to the Eldorado, 
and on every street corner people are encountered with Klondike 
schemes in varying forms of development. Women have the 
craze as badly as men ; and some of their hobbies are, if any- 
thing, even more outlandish. 

But while the schemes and yarns of visionaries, charlatans and 
cranks are worth laughing at for their absurdity or avoiding for 
their concealed rascality, there is another side to the story which 
appeals to earnest men with almost irresistible force. That is 
the record of the men who have " struck it rich " in the placers 
of this very Klondike — of the men who have gone in poor and 
come out in a few short months, or even weeks, rich for life ; of 
the men who took stock in the tales of the fabulous wealth wait- 
ing in that frozen Yukon valley gravel to be " washed " out, and 
who, with wise forethought, prepared themselves for a fierce 
battle with the Arctic elements and then braved the hardships 
and privations of the wilderness to emerge in time laden with 
their golden fruits of victory. 

From Alaska Mining Record. 

Elsewhere in this volume will be found a more detailed account 
of those who " struck it rich " on the Klondike ; to show that 
there is a bright side to the picture, the following from the 
Alaska Mining Record, of Juneau, of June 30th, is sufficient. It 
relates to the arrival of Jack Hayes, the mail carrier from the 
Yukon. : 

" Much excitement prevails all through the Yukon district over 
the Klondike discoveries, and all kinds of stories of the richer 
there are told, many of which Mr. Hayes says are true. It is 
true that two tenderfeet, railroad men from Los Angeles, Cal. — 
Frank Summers and Charles Clemens — have struck it rich. 



64 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

They went in a year ago and located on the Klondike last fall. 
Clemens sold his interest for $35,000 cash, and his partner, 
Summers, held on two weeks later and got $50,000. The 
money to pay the men was taken out of the dump which had 
been lifted from the shaft on the claim during the winter. These 
two men had each panned out $2500 on their claim while pros- 
pecting it. The man that bought Clemens' interest bound the 
bargain with a $232 nugget which had been taken from the 
Klondike. Neither man had had any experience in mining. 

" Alec McDonald took one pan from his claim which tipped 
the scales to the tune of $800, and offered a wager of $1000 
that he could pick his dirt and in twenty minutes get a pan that 
would go over 100 ounces ($1600). No one cared to cover the 
wager. 

" Dick Lowe is panning for a living, and is taking out the 
modest sum of $100 a day. 

"Two 'tenderfeet' from Chicago, named Wier and Beecher, 
leased a piece of ground for sixty days, paid a royalty of 
$10,000, and divided $20,000. The miners have only advanced 
up the Klondike nine miles, and at that distance there are several 
claims that will produce $1,000,000 apiece. 

Assays Enormously Rich. 

The latest reports from this cold gold clime consist of speci- 
mens which were sent to California for assay tests, and they 
show enormous returns of gold. 

The gold find, however, in this Alaskan Territory is not new, 
although the facts are just beginning to be appreciated by the 
public. The unanimous verdict of investigators in this northern 
country has always been that gold abounded in great quantities, 
but the difficulty has been to get it out and away with any 
degree of profit. Mining on a small scale has been practically 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 65 

impossible. The adventurer without money would have no 
chance to strike it rich, 'even if he could manage to raise the 
sum necessary to take him to the country. The rigors of the 
winter preclude any work in that season, and the absence of any 
commercial facilities in the new mining districts prevents any 
digging that is not connected with some large organized plan. 
But for the company or individuals with capital and enterprise 
the prospect seems to be of the best. The introduction of 
improved machinery — which has already begun — and the en- 
largement of the transportation facilities on the long Yukon 
River will soon bring these golden riches within easy reach 

of the States. 

Natural Exaggerations. 

The stories of finds, however, must be taken with usual 
reservations. There will be natural exaggerations not only of 
the richness of the gold but of the character of the hardships 
that must be endured. Alaska is no balmy California. There 
is no comforting warmth most of the year to sustain the spirits of 
the wearied seeker after wealth. The battle for gold there includes 
a battle with a hostile nature which has guarded her treasure house 
with icy blasts for all these centuries. It is no place for the lag- 
gard if all reports be true, but for the man of courage and deter- 
mination it seems to be a land of great promise. 

One of the evidences of the Klondike craze is freighted with 
ill omen to the owners of salmon canneries and of whaling 
vessels. Startling rumors have come from the north that 
parties of fishermen and sailors are coming across country 
from the mouth of the Mackenzie River into the Klondike, and, 
should this prove true, many vessels now staunch and trim will 
be rotting on the Arctic coast when the snows of next winter 
have cleared away. 

At Herschel Island, which is situated in the Arctic Ocean 

5 



66 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, a large number of 
salmon fishers have made their headquarters. During the 
summer months, when the Mackenzie River is open, these fisher- 
men, in their myriad of small craft, go up the river in quest of 
salmon. There are a number of canneries on the Mackenzie. 
Over ioo deep-sea vessels are annually needed to bring the sea- 
sons pack down from the Arctic. It is believed the fishermen 
and crews which went north to bring back the pack have heard 
of the wonderful gold strikes and, taking the provisions with 
which their vessels were stored have deserted and struck out for 
the gold fields. 

Owners of whaling vessels which winter at Herschel Island 
are as much alarmed as are the canning companies. There are 
at least 300 men belonging to the whaling fleet, and it is proba- 
ble that they and the fishermen are now delving into the Klondike 

soil for gold. 

Days of '49 and '97. 

In many ways the " days of '49 " in California and the " days 
of '97 " in the Klondike are alike. To the average man the 
treasures of the coast State were seemingly as inaccessible as 
those of the Yukon and its tributaries. The one lay beyond 
2000 miles of trackless desert and snow-clad mountains beset 
with savage hordes whose bloody welcome to the gold seeker 
narked the trail from the Missouri to the coast with the whitening 
bones of " pale- face" prospectors ; the other lies 7000 miles by 
water, or 4000 miles by land and water, from civilization, beyond 
mountain passes as hazardous to scale as those of the Swiss Alps 
and guarded from the greed of man by the icy rigors of the Arctic 
climate hardly less effectually than were the riches of California 
by the sanguinary red man. 

The tales of fabled wealth which set the world crazy to go to 
the California mines were not less wonderful than those which 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 67 

returning argonauts bring from the upper Yukon country, and 
both are confirmed by the yellow nuggets whose mute testimony 
to the modern Cathay is unimpeachable. And the excitement in 
America is greater than in the wildest days of the South 
African or the Australian strikes. 

Both in California and in the Klondike, the first mining was in 
placers, " poor man's mining," because no expensive machinery 
is required — only a pick, spade and pan, with nature's sluiceway 
of a nearby stream for water. 

And, again, the " tenderfoot " often struck it rich where the 
old miner had trouble to find enough " dust" to buy his daily 
food. 

It was every man's gold mine. Nature had no favorites. 

No wonder people went gold crazy. 

Fever Reaches a Climax. 

The symptoms of the climax of the first attack of the Klon- 
dike fever came relatively soon after the yellow malady became 
epidemic. The fever began on July 27th, 1897 ; by August 1 5th 
the worst was over, and the tens of thousands of poor men who 
wanted to be rich in a hurry, and of rich men who wanted to be 
richer, of adventurers who were always ready for anything excit- 
ing, and of level-headed business men who had been crazy for 
only a few brief days over the marvelous tales of wealth to be 
had for the washing, had begun to convalesce and reason that if 
the Klondike was really as fabulously rich as it was reported to 
be, there would likely be some gold left at the diggings when 
spring came, and the perils to health and even life on the long 
journey "in" were somewhat diminished by mild weather. 

Would-be argonauts who could not get passage to Dyea or 
Juneau on the overcrowded steamers began to content themselves 
perforce to stay at home ; and weary and disgusted prospectors, 



68 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

who had been stranded by the stampede at the mouths of the 
mountain passes, began to pour back to winter amid creature 
comforts in the homes of civilization, and pack up at leisure for 
another venture in the spring. People found time to get coal, 
and they took it. 

But what a craze it was while it lasted ! Even the days of 
'49 were fairly eclipsed by the universality of the gold insanity 
of '97. Every city in the Union contributed to the horde of 
gold hunters pressing and pushing and scrambling on to the new 
Eldorado. Even the little hamlets of the land sent their quota, 
and men swarmed by thousands around the wharves of San 
Francisco, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, and "put up" their 
last cent for a fighting chance in the mad rush for the Yukon 
placers. Canada sent its thousands through the States and along 
its own routes, and across the Atlantic the fever spread 'till even 
the great house of Rothschild was infected and sent a confiden- 
tial agent to inspect the wonderful gold fields in its behalf. 

London Gets the Craze. 

A London correspondent of a New York newspaper wrote in 
these words on August 1st: 

"Were it not so late both in the London and the Yukon sea- 
son, the fashionable thing for society young men to-day would 
be to make up a party to dare the dangers of the Chilkoot Pass 
and explore the Yukon River, even at the risk of gold-laden 
aristocrats meeting mythical pirates on their homeward journey. 
The gold fever has spread here far wider than the narrow limits 
of so-called London society, and there would have been a mad 
rush to the diggings from England of all the men and boys who 
could beg, borrow, or steal $200 had not one or two explorers 
sounded a shriek of alarm, and the Emigration Information Office 
issued a plain warning to the effect that it would be quite useless 



T 






w 
w 

o 

Q 

o 
w 

H 



o 

en 

H 
en 




SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 69 

to start hence before next April. Meanwhile such terrible pict- 
ures are being painted, in colors laid on so thickly, and the 
deadly perils of White Horse Rapids and Chilkoot are so strongly 
emphasized that thoughtful men are not without the keen sus- 
picion that the worthy Canadians are doing their best to scare 
away intruders and keep their own treasure at home." 

New York and Chicago. 

New York and Chicago had the fever hard. Men who had 
mined and made money, men who had mined and lost money, 
men who had always thought they would like to speculate in 
mining, and men who had abhorred the very word, were stricken. 
Bankers, brokers, business men and nonentities, from James R. 
Keene to plain John Smith, went wild. Before July was out, 
companies representing an aggregate capitalization of $ 1 8,000,000 
had been organized in New York City alone to traffic, or dig, or 
grub-stake in the Yukon Basin. 

Men who were blind on every other subject saw the wonderful 
Alaskan rainbow of promise and rushed off to find the pot of 
gold at its Klondike end with the infantile assurance of the tot 
in the nursery tale. 

Perhaps the date of the placer discovery — coming at the 
close of a period of general business depression, had something 
to do with the virulence of the fever. Anyway, a fortnight after 
the news of the strike steamed into port the country was stark, 
staring, raving mad. "Klondike" was the topic at the lunch 
counters, men talked " outfits " on the street cars and " L " trains, 
women found themselves abandoning the fashions to read up on 
routes and fares to Dawson City, farmers drove to town in the 
middle of a il hay day" to hear the latest from "the diggings," 
and technical mining phrases became the cant of the day. 

Nothing could head off the enthusiasm of the horde of would-be 



70 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

miners. They sailed out of the Pacific coast ports, crowded like 
animals in and upon vessels known to every sailor as long unsea- 
worthy, and periled their lives over the " Boneyard of the Pacific " 
or through the devious, rock-studded, fog-enshrouded channels 
of the Sitka route ; they trusted to captains who had never been 
out of sight of land and to pilots who had never sailed the courses ; 
they heard, unmoved, warnings of deadly hardships enroute and 
of probable starvation at the mines ; they gave up good positions 
and spent small fortunes for transportation, and with scuppers 
awash sailed away in death traps to the frozen North. 

So reckless did the mad stampeders to the Klondike become 
at last that the highest public officials were forced to take notice 
of the epidemic folly and try to head it off. 

Secretary Bliss' Warning. 

Secretary of the Interior Bliss, on August ioth found it neces- 
sary to issue the following warning, a state paper almost without 
a precedent on this continent : 

" To Whom It May Concern: In view of information received 
at this department that 3000 persons with 2000 tons of baggage 
and freight are now waiting at the entrance to White Pass, in 
Alaska, for an opportunity to cross the mountains to the Yukon 
River, and that many more are preparing to join them, I deem it 
proper to call the attention of all who contemplate making that 
trip to the exposure, privation, suffering, and even danger inci- 
dent thereto at this advanced period of the season, even if they 
should succeed in crossing the mountains. To reach Dawson 
City, when over the pass, 700 miles of difficult navigation on the 
Yukon River without adequate means of transportation will still 
lie before them, and it is doubtful if the journey can be com- 
pleted before the river is closed by ice. 

" I am moved to draw public attention to these conditions by 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 71 

the gravity of the possible consequences to people detained in the 
mountainous wilderness during five or six months of an arctic 
winter, where no relief can reach them, however great the need. 

"C. N. Buss, 
" Secretary of the Interior" 
The Hon. Clifford Sifton, Canadian Minister of the Interior, 
had already issued a notice to the public of the Dominion that 
the government would not be responsible for getting provisions 
into the Yukon during the coming winter tantamount to warning 
the gold seekers to stay out till spring. 

Mad Rush Goes On. 

Yet, in the face of all these official warnings, chronicled and 
spread broadcast by the same press and in the same columns in 
which the other Klondike news was daily printed, twenty-one 
steamers, three sailing vessels and two scows, each laden to the 
utmost carrying capacity, had put out from Pacific coast ports 
for Alaska before the warnings were a fortnight old. 

The North American Transportation and Trading Company 
repeatedly issued public warnings of the hazards attending an 
attempt to get into the mines during the remainder of the season 
of 1897, and finally raised the fare for the last trip of the 
steamer Portland to $1000, only guaranteeing to get passengers 
to Dawson City by way of St, Michael's by June 15, 1898. 
Yet the passenger list was full of names of men who were 
willing to spend a winter in the Yukon ice or on the cheerless 
shores of Norton Sound, even at that price. 

And those who could not muster patience to go by that route, 
with Secretary Bliss' warning ringing in their ears, swarmed at 
the wharves where other steamers were preparing to start 
with their herded loads of self-deluded gold-seekers, and paid 
$500 bonus, where they coulc 3 find a taker, for the privilege of 



72 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

the voyage to overcrowded Dyea or Juneau. They knew the 
Canadian mounted police were on guard at the passes over the 
mountains, turning back all who had not a year's provisions in 
their outfits, but they bid high for the chance to go, just the 
same. They knew they stood a chance of having to winter at 
Juneau or Dyea, and eat up their supplies, but they spent their 
last cent to get there, just the same. It ceases to be a " play " 
rush for gold and became the wild exodus of a rabble in which 
men totally unfitted for the rough work and hardships of the 
miner's life, and unmindful that failure would be the lot of 
hundreds, and that many would find graves among the frozen 
placers or along the desert trails, joined with the enthusiasm of 
devotees. 

Said by P. B. Weare. 

" There is barely a change of any of the gold-seekers getting 
across the divide so as to reach the Klondike region this year, to 
say nothing about the perils of the long trip beyond, but still the 
rush goes on," says P. B. Weare, of the North American Com- 
pany, early in August. " We advise the people now not to 
attempt to get to Dawson City this year, but it doesn't seem to 
be any use talking. We hear from our representatives in Alaska 
and they say it is no use trying to stop the march — in some 
cases to certain death." 

" They go on the theory that the first there will be first 
served," said John Cuhahy in speaking of the race for wealth ; 
"but I believe some of the first to go now will be the first 
dead." 

Still the rush to the harvest of hardship and death went on. 

Then the shock of disillusion came, and it brought some peo- 
ple to their senses. Word came back from the North that gold- 
seekers were making famine on the bleak Alaska mountains as 
fast as they knew how, Winter storms had begun to obliterate 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 73 

the trails and bury the passes. Old timers said again the reck- 
less argonauts could not get through to the Klondike, and that 
Arctic tempests would cut off their return and force them to fight 
for life all winter in famine-stricken camps — and this time the 
warning was heeded. 

The object lesson from Dyea which was shown to the world 
on the morning of August ioth was too fearful not to be heeded. 

Misery at Dyea. 

Hal Hoffman, writing from Juneau under date of August 3d, 
said of Dyea and Skagway, the ports at the head of Iynn Canal, 
these graphic and awful words : 

" These are the last salt water ports and the points of debark- 
ation for the mountain trails and passes. The number of Indians 
and whites and packers and horses is totally inadequate to move 
the vast quantities of freight over the mountains, and a blockade 
that is daily assuming more formidable proportions has resulted. 

"Tons of supplies are piled high on the beach, and they will 
likely remain there for an indefinite length of time. Every 
incoming steamer dumps scores of excited gold seekers and tons 
of freight on the beach. The confusion is indescribable. Much 
of the freight is dumped on a long sand spit at Dyea at low tide, 
as there are no wharfs at that place. Before the supplies can be 
sorted, claimed, and removed, the tide has risen and ruined or 
carried entirely away large quantities of supplies. 

" By far the largest portion of the supplies must be packed 
over the passes by their owners if they are packed at all. Only 
about one hundred and fifty Indians, fifty white men, and ten 
horses are now packing over the Dyea trail. It is good to be 
an Indian now at Dyea. He is making at least ten dollars a 
day. He lets the palefaces in search of gold bid against each 
other for his services as a packer, and calmly takes up the burden 



74 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

of the highest bidder. His squaw and his children also carry 
heavy packs up the steep mountain trail. 

" The white man with his ten horses is making $100 per day. 
It is estimated that there will be fifty additional white packers 
and forty more horses on the trail in a week or ten days, but on 
the other hand the rush still keeps up, and the end is not in sight. 
The end is too far away to see. It is back in New York, Chicago, 
and San Francisco, and has not started yet. Every man who 
has set foot in Juneau, Dyea, or Stagua has friends back East 
who are coming. 

" When the rivers freeze overland travel to Dawson must stop, 
except at the greatest peril, till spring smiles again. The Yukon 
and Lewis have been known to freeze by the middle of August, 
but while this is an exception it is more than a possibility. Unless 
an unexpectedly large number of horses and packers arrive soon 
many men will camp on the route to the Yukon, and eat the 
supplies in idleness through the long winter. 

" Many men are starting for the Yukon with inadequate sup- 
plies and little money. It takes gold to hunt gold. One can 
hardly make a necessary step on the journey here without it 
costing $10 for each step. 

Timber Runs Short. 

" There is a great scramble for timber at Lake Bennett, with 
which to build boats. A little saw mill there is capable of an 
output of 800 feet of lumber per day. Ten dollars per hundred 
was first asked, and now twenty dollars for lumber. The whip- 
saw of gold-seekers is heard throughout the woods. Owing to 
the great rush there must be more delay at the lakes. 

" Prospectors in the Valley of Yukon. have returned here from 
Dyea, and will wait till spring before attempting to make the 
Klondike, But not so the tenderfoot, He is swarming for the 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 



75 



summit in many instances with an outfit unsuitable in kind and 
quantity. He is leaving here every day with pretty red, frail 
two-wheeled carts and wheelbarrows, piled high with much super- 
fluous baggage which he cannot hope to push over the mountain 
trails. 

" His vehicle will smash, and his supplies scatter and break 
before he is out three hours from Dyea. But you can't make 




NATIVES OF ALASKA BUILDING HOUSES, 

him believe it. He is so excited he can't or won't listen to 
reason, His one idea is gold and he is going after it with sacks 
and carts to bring it back in. As these outfits pass through the 
streets from wharf to wharf old prospectors laugh. 

" It looks as though the Canadian customs officials will have 
an opportunity to report back to their government that they are 
unable to collect customs duties without reinforcements, 



76 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

"All the incoming gold hunters are incensed at the action of 
the Canadian authorities, at Ottawa, in levying a duty on supplies 
they are taking into the mines. The rougher element among 
them is intemperate in its language, and has made threats to 
ignore the customs officials, peaceably if possible, but forcibly if 
necessary. 

" The general prospect, as viewed from the border of the land 
of gold at this time, is that the route to the Yukon will be strewn 
with bones as well as blasted hopes. 

Hurts Alaska Industries. 

" The Klondike craze is having a disastrous effect on the 
industries of Alaska. The great salmon cannery at Chilkat has 
been compelled to close down from lack of fishermen in the 
middle of a very fine season. Nearly every white man in the 
cannery deserted and started for Dawson City. Manager Mur- 
ray tried to get men to take the vacant places, but soon gave up 
the attempt. 

" Men are insulted now when asked to work for a cannery. 

" The Klondike fever is at a very high pitch in Alaska, as well 
as elsewhere. The Chilkat cannery is controlled by the Alaska 
Packers' Association, which operates nearly all the canneries on 
the coast. Employes are leaving the canneries for the Klondike. 
The probability is that work at nearly all of them will be aband- 
oned soon, owing principally to a lack of fishermen. 

"At Douglas City, across the channel, about fifty men have 
given notice to quit work next pay day. They are employed in 
the big Treadwell Gold Mine and Mills. Others are leaving 
without notice and heading for Klondike. Every shift one or 
more men are missed. It is feared that so many desert that the 
mines and mills cannot be worked. 

" The fever has also seized the men in the mines and stamp 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 77 

mills at Berner Bay. A large number have thrown up their jobs 
there and started for the Klondike." 

Could anything better express the utter folly of some of the 
gold-seekers, who were probably types of a large class, than 
this, clipped from a letter written from Dyea ? 

" Such is the innocence of some of the ' tenderfoot ' prospec- 
tors that they have taken bicycles to Dyea. They have found 
the park commissioners neglected to boulevard the trail to Daw- 
son and the bicycles being, even in an extremity, unfit for food, 
are now very cheap." 

One of the possible and much-feared episodes in the Klon- 
dike sensation may yet add a bloody page to the history of 
North Pacific navigation, and cause to be re-enacted in American 
waters some of the fierce buccaneering scenes of the Straits Settle- 
ments on the Spanish Main. 

Chinese Pirate Scare. 

Word was received early in August by the officials of the 
North American Transportation and Trading Company that a 
band of Chinese pirates had been organized for the express pur- 
pose of intercepting and looting the steamer Portland on its last 
trip down from St. Michael's in October, 1897. It was known 
that a large number of Klondike miners intended to come out in 
the Portland, bringing their dust with them, and the last com- 
pany shipment of gold would also be brought down on the same 
boat. Altogether, it had been reported, about $2,000,000 of 
yellow treasure would be aboard, and the company officials were 
informed a pirate crew recruited from the Highbinders in the 
Chinese slums of San Francisco, aided by a few renegade white 
men, would lie in wait to loot and destroy the treasure ship and 
murder its crew and passengers at some point between St. 
Michael's and Dutch Harbor. 



78 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

P. W. Weare, of the company, communicated his fears to 
Secretary of the Treasurer Gage, and the latter at once ordered 
Commander Hooper, of the Revenue Service, to send a cutter to 
convey the treasure ship safely into the Pacific. 

The Portland is a staunch vessel, well armed and carries a 
good crew, and when aided by the fighting tars of the Bear or 
Rush, is expected to not only come through safely but to give the 
Mongolian marauders a hot reception if they venture out. 

Craze Is Epidemic. 

Another effect of the Klondike fever was to cause a similar 
malady of strictly local extent to break out in a dozen places 
which had not had a case of genuine gold fever in years. 

California promptly "saw" the Klondike and "went it one 
better" with some remarkable strikes in the Trinity County 
placers. The largest nugget reported was said to be worth 
$42,000, and weighs 2400 ounces. Little Rock, Arkansas, 
went wild over the reputed rediscovery of some old Spanish 
mines in the neighborhood. Nevada got a latter-day Washoe 
shock in an old mine in Elko County. The Kootenai and Cari- 
boo districts suddenly discovered that they contained mineral 
enough to warrant a population of 100,000 in a few years, and 
hearalded the fact to the world. Colorado got up a boom over 
some sylvanite quartz at Silver Cliff, an old camp. Rat Port- 
age, Ontario, suffered a depopulating exodus over some reported 
rich finds in the Rainy Lake and Seine River country. Dead- 
wood put in a claim to notice by announcing a new lead in 
Ragged Top, which assayed $1048 a ton in gold. Altoona, 
Pennsylvania, temporarily forgot the coal rumpus while it dis- 
covered gold ore going $625 a ton on Tussey Mountains. 
Elizabethtown, Kentucky, got up a little excitement over a gilt 
bottomed farm near Summit. Columbia, Missouri, ran across 



SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 79 

a lot of gold in the banks of Dry Creek. Ashland and Mari- 
nette, Wisconsin, came in neck and neck with stories of gold 
discoveries. Marquette, Michigan, found it was roosting on top 
of a gold lead forty feet wide and hadn't suspected it before. 
Peru came to the front with a revival of the famous mines of the 
Incas. Mexico owned up to having gold in the Yaqui country. 
Russia declared there were fabulously rich new mines in 
Okhotsk, just across from Alaska. And China came in late in 
the game and announced the biggest find of all. 

It mattered not that the Missouri gold was pronounced pyrites 
and some of the other " discoveries " mere stock jobbing 
schemes — it showed how the fever spread. 

About Bogus Stock Companies. 

A word to the people who did not catch the stampede craze 
hard enough to get them out of the country, but who are left 
behind with the "Alaska -Mining and Klondike . Development 
Stock Companies : " 

The man who goes in person to the Klondike takes great risks, 
but his success or failure will depend largely on himself in the 
long run. At any rate, he knows what he is staking on the 
issue. But the man who would stay at home and still be a 
Klondiker has to reckon not only with nature, but with rascals. 

There will be stock companies innumerable, organized ostensi- 
bly to exploit the Northwest. Some will do it. They will be 
directed by men who will set honestly about the business of trade 
and transportation and mining, who will handle honestly the 
funds intrusted to them, and who, by enterprise and square 
dealing, will make dividends for the stockholders. 

There will be other companies organized to exploit the pockets 
of the people at home. They will not move a boat, they will 
not grub-stake a miner, they will not sell a shovel, a pick, or a 



80 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 

pan. Their directors will get money from the unsuspecting and 
use it for their own purposes. If the boom holds out and grows 
to sufficient size they will play the part of the adventurers who 
turned the city of Panama into a modern Babylon with the money 
contributed by the people of France. 

In short, sending capital into the Klondike will be even more 
precarious than going yourself, for the risks of nature will be 
added to the risk of man's rascality. 

Yet capital is needed in the Klondike, and those who send it 
there under the proper sort of management will make legitimate 
profits, and possibly big ones. 



CHAPTER III. 
"Strike it Rich" on Klondike. 

Gold-seekers who " Made their Pile " in the Placers — Tales Brought Back 
by Returning Argonauts — Fabulous Stakes made by Novices — The 
"Tenderfoot" Has His Day — Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney Barnato " 
of the Diggings — His Wonderful Streak of Luck — Gives the Credit to 
His Wife — Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning Results — Fortune 
Favors an Indiana Boy — Some of the Dark Sides, by People who Saw 
Them — Miners Go Insane — Death on the Glacier — Hard Work and Lack 
of Supplies — Advice of a California Pioneer. 

THAT men, even a few, have "struck it rich" and " made 
their pile" on the Klondike, or anywhere else on the 

Upper Yukon, has put the whole question of gold pros- 
pects in Alaska beyond cavil or doubt with the masses, for the 
coming close season at least. Much good advice will be given 
—and wasted — before the ice moves in 1898 in the upper chan- 
nels in the Alaskan rivers, but not a word of it, nor all of it 
together will be potent to overcome the attraction there is in the 
list of those who have washed fortunes out of the frozen Klon- 
dike gravel. 

That tons and more of new gold, a million and three-quarters 
of dust and nuggets, that the Portland brought in July, and the 
men who had "struck it" who came with her, and the stories 
they told of other lucky ones who were still washing away at 
the auriferous soil — these things settled it. Alaska is Eldorado 
and the cry is " Klondike or Bust." 

It seemed strange as the passengers landed from the Portland 
to gaze upon a small satchel tightly grasped in a brown hand, 
and realize that it contained probably over $10,000, the reward 
of untold hardship. The blanket securely strapped and the 
leather gripsack seemed favorite packages for the yellow metal. 

6 81 



82 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

This time of '97, unlike all other times, Fortune played no 
favorites. 1897 on the Klondike was the " tenderfoot's " year 
for gold. The inexperienced men have been the lucky ones, 
individuals in several instances taking out approximately $150,- 
000 in two months and a half, while the old miners, after 
spending years and suffering hardships and privations innumer- 
able in the far Northwest, had only a few thousands to show for 
all their pains and perils. 

Clarence Berry's Strike. 

Clarence J. Berry, of Fresno, California, was one of the luckiest 
of the " tenderfeet ; " in fact, his strike was a proverb in the 
entire region, and he is known among the Yukoners as " the 
luckiest man on the Klondike," and the " Barney Barnato of the 
Klondike," though he is unlike the South African Croesus in all 
but luck. A few years ago, Berry said, he did not have enough 
to pay house rent, and did not dare ask Miss E. Bush, of Fresno, 
to share his poverty. But he brought back from the Klondike, 
on the Portland, $130,000 in gold nuggets, and the prettiest wife 
in the territory and a helpmeet, too, for Mrs. Ethel Berry, nee 
Bush, didn't begin the honeymoon under the midnight sun by 
asking her husband for pin-money. Not she. She just took a 
pan and washed out $10,000 or so on her own account. 

Clarence Berry was described by Mrs. Eli Gage, who was a 
passenger with him and his wife on the Portland, as being " the 
most modest millionaire," she ever saw. But he was willing to 
talk Klondike after he had turned his dust and nuggets over to 
Wells, Fargo & Co., at Seattle, on July 17th. 

" Yes, I am a rich man," said he, " but I don't realize it. My 
wife and little ones will, though. I took out my gold last win- 
ter in box lengths twelve by fifteen, and in one length I found 
the sum of $10,000. The second largest nugget ever found iv 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 83 

Alaska was taken out of my claim. It weighed thirteen ounces 
and is worth 3230. Why, I have known men to takeout $1000 
from a drift claim, and some have taken out several thousand. 
This gold was found in pockets, and it is not an ordinary thing 
to make such marvelous finds. 

" Yes, there is plenty more of gold there. I expect to take 
many more thousands from my claim ; others on this boat expect 
to do the same. Those who have good claims will undoubtedly 
be millionaires in a few years. The gold will not give out for a 
long time. There is room for more miners in Alaska, but they 
must be strong men, must have money, and should know about 
mining. The hardships are many. Some will fail to make for- 
tunes, where a few are successful. A man may have to prospect 
for many years before he finds a good claim. That means that 
he needs money and strength to help him along ; but if he sticks 
to it he will come out all right." 

Captain McGregor's Big Pans. 

Captain John G. McGregor, of Minneapolis, Minn., a placer 
miner for thirty years, and one of the pioneers at Confederate 
Gulch, Montana, has been in the Klondike a year. In August 
he wrote home that his men were washing gravel that occasion- 
ally goes $3000 to the pan, and that $1000 is common. He 
has several miners working for him, and expects to bring out as 
his own profits next June not less than $1,200,000. 

Frank Phiscator, of Gallen, Indiana, came in on the Portland 
with $50,000, which he washed out in forty days. He left 
Indiana a year before for the Pacific Slope to begin life anew, 
having failed in the fruit business. He had never heard of the 
Alaska gold mines until he reached Seattle, which place he 
reached "broke." He was grub-staked by a friend who went 
through from Michigan with him, and together they started for 



84 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

the new Eldorado. For days after they left Circle City they 
were lost in a blinding storm, and for three days found refuge in 
a hole in the hardened snow. They reached the Klondike in the 
dead of winter, and when the weather moderated they were pre- 
pared for business. In forty days they sluiced and washed out 
$125,000 of gold, of which Frank received as his share $50,000. 

William Stalley and C. Worden were Phiscator's companions, 
and they divided $75,000 between them. 

William Sloane, a merchant of Nanaimo, B. C, went North 
for pleasure one year ago. He had no money. A friend in- 
duced him to go to Klondike. He came back with $52,000, 
the amount he received for his claim. He says he will not re- 
turn, but advises others who want gold to go. 

Dougal M'Arthur's Romance. 

Young Dougal M'Arthur came down from Klondike with 
$25,000 in dust and a story no one could doubt. He said : 

" I left the good old country when a mere boy, determined, if 
possible, to carve out a fortune for myself. Coming to America 
I drifted from place to place with varying success and finally, six 
years ago, determined to try my luck in Alaska. It was hard 
working at first, but I soon got used to it, and I determined to 
stay there until I struck something that would pay me for my 
trouble. 

" At Forty-mile camp I made some money and then I drifted 
over to Circle City. There I did not do so well, but I kept peg- 
ging away, believing like Micawber, that something would turn 
up after a bit. Well, last fall came the news of a tremendously 
rich strike on the Klondike. We— that is, my partner, Neal 
McArthur and myself — pulled up stakes and started for the new 
discovery. Neal went ahead and was fortunate in locating a 
good claim. My part of the work consisted in hauling our pro- 




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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 



85 



visions and camping outfit over the snow and ice to the new 
location. I was compelled to make two trips, and it was the 
hardest work I ever did in my life. 

" I reached Dawson City finally just two days before Christ- 
mas. Neal had prospected the claim and found it rich beyond 
our fondest anticipations. Before Ave could begin work there 




SCENE NEAR DAWSON CITY. 

was an offer to buy it and we sold out for $50,000. It was a 
lucky turn of the wheel of fortune for us. Without practically 
a stroke we cleaned up $25,000 apiece. 

" Now we are going home to see our people. My own folks 
have not heard from me in a long time, and maybe they think I 
am dead. It will be a joyful home-coming for all." 



86 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

Among the first people to come back to civilization were Mr. 
and Mrs. Lipton, who, though they had been at the diggings 
only since April, 1896, returned with $60,000. Most of the 
party were " tenderfeet," and had spent but one season at the 
mines, yet some of them had taken out from $10,000 to $25,000 
in a few weeks. In the nine miles advance up the Klondike, it 
is said, there are several mines that will yield over $1,000,000, 
one piece of ground on the Eldorado, forty-five feet wide, having 
yielded $90,000. The Berry claim has produced $145,000 in a 
few months, and there is a pile of gravel on the dump, ready to 
be washed as soon as sufficient water can be obtained, which 
contains as much more. 

Sample " Piles " on the Portland. 

Among the passengers on the Portland, July 17th, Clarence 
Berry, Frank Phiscator, and Frank A. Kellar, of Los Angeles, 
each had from $35,000 to $100,000. Henry Anderson and Jack 
Morden, of Chicago ; William Stanley, of Seattle ; and R. Mc- 
Nulty and N. E. Pickett, each had at least $20,000. M. Mercer, 
J. J. Hillerman, and J. Moran, had each from $12,000 to $15,000. 
The average pile of dust on board the Portland was probably 
$i2,coo, and these people, the captain said, are only a handful. 

Michael Hickey, of Great Barrington, Mass., brought down 
$60,000, which he had taken from Klondike placers in the last 
eighteen months. Hickey is a widower. He left Great Barring- 
ton for Alaska in the spring of 1896. In his letters home he 
has not complained about the hardships he has met. He spent 
the winter of 1896-97 in the gold regions. 

William Stanley, of Seattle, "struck it" rich. He came down 
with $90,000. His two sons are in the Klondike, looking after 
their claims, out of which they hope to make at least $300,000. 

Henry Anderson, a native of Sweden, had no money when 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 87 

he left Seattle two years ago. Now he has $45,000 and states 
that he received it for a half interest in his claim. 

Pack Home, a pugilist who use to work for variety theatres 
on Puget Sound for ten dollars per week, displayed $6000, the 
result of a year's work. 

T. J. Kelly and son, of Tacoma, went north in the fall of 
1896. The father brought back $10,000 and the son is holding 
the claim. 

Gold Breaks the Gripsack. 

John Wilkinson, a passenger on the Portland, had his gold in 
a leather gripsack, and in carrying it out of the social hall of the 
steamer, in spite of the fact that he had three straps around the 
bag, the main handle piece broke, and he had to secure a broader 
strap before he could carry his treasure ashore. 

Henry Anderson, another passenger, refused to talk, hurrying 
alt to get away, but it was said by his companions that he 
brought down $65,000, and that he had a claim like a river 
of gold. He sold out a half interest for $45,000 cash. In 
six hours' shoveling he secured 1025 ounces from his claim. 

Thomas Moran, of Montreal, brought out as the proceeds 
of five years' work $20,000, and still has interests in several 
claims. Moran will go back. Victor Lord, an old Olympia 
logging man, brought out $10,000 after four years on various 
parts of the Yukon. He owns a half interest in two claims, and 
will return in the spring. M. N. Murcier, of Shelton, Mason & 
Co., came out with about $160,000. 

Among the passengers via the Portland were Fred. Price, 
August Galbraith, L. B. Rhoads, Thomas Cook and Alexander 
Orr. Each one had from $5000 to $12,000. Joseph Ladue, 
the owner of the townsite of Dawson City, was also aboard. 
Land is selling there, he reported, at $5000 a lot. 

Fred. Price, who brought out a snug fortune, said : " I was 



88 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

located on the Bonanza with Harry McCullough, my partner. I 
brought down $5000 in gold dust and made $20,000, which is 
invested in more ground. There were good stakes on the boat 
coming down — from $5000 to $40,000 among the boys. I 
refused $25,000 for my interest before I left. My partner 
remains, and I shall return in the spring after seeing my family 
in Seattle. I was in the mines for two years. One can't realize 
the wealth of that creek. There are four miles of claims on the 
Eldorado, and the poorest is worth $50,000. The Bonanza 
claims run for ten miles, and range from $5000 to $90,000." 

August Galbraith said : " The development of Alaska has 
only just begun. If I were not an old man, I would have 
remained where I was. There is no doubt in my mind that all 
of the country for hundreds of miles around Dawson is rich in 
gold. It is the best place that I know of for a poor man to go. 
If a man has $500 when he starts, well and good, for it may be 
useful if he should not be fortunate the first season." 

Rock Lined With Gold. 

L. B. Rhoads said: " I am located on Claim 21, above the 
discovery on Bonanza Creek. I did exceedingly well up there. 
I was among the fortunate ones, as I cleared about $40,000, but 
brought only $5000 with me. I was the first man to get to 
bedrock gravel and to discover that it was lined with gold dust 
and nuggets. The rock was seamed and cut in V-shaped 
streaks, caused, it is supposed, by glacial action. 

" In those seams I found a clay which was exceedingly rich. 
There was a stratum of pay gravel four feet thick upon the rock, 
which was lined with gold, particularly in these channels or 
streaks. The rock was about sixteen feet from the surface." 

Alexander Orr, who brought out $12,000 in dust, said: " In 
winter the weather is extremely cold at Dawson, and it is neces- 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 89 

sary that one be warmly clad. The thermometer often goes 
sixty or seventy degrees below zero. Ordinary woolen clothes 
would afford little protection. Furs are used exclusively for 
clothing. Dawson is not like most of the large mining camps. 
It is not a " tough " town. Murders are almost unknown. A 
great deal of gambling is done in the town, but serious quarrels 
are an exception. Stud poker is the usual game. They play 
$\ ante and oftentimes $200 or $500 on the third card." 

Thomas Cook expressed himself as follows : " It's a good 
country, but if there is a rush, there is going to be a great deal 
of suffering. Over 2000 men are there at present, and 2000 
more will be in before the snow falls. I advise people to take 
provisions enough for eight months at least. If they have that, 
it is all right. The country is not exaggerated at all. The 
mines at Dawson are more extensive and beyond anything I 
ever saw." 

William Sloan, of Nanaimo, B. C, sold his claim for $52,000 
and came home to stay. A man named Wilkenson, of the same 
place, had $40,000. 

The smallest sack of gold among the Yukoners aboard the 
Portland on July 17th was $3000. It belonged to C. A. 
Branan, of Seattle, a youth of eighteen years. 

Over $100,000 for a Boy. 

The richest strike was made by a twenty-one-year-old boy 
named George Hornblower, of Indianapolis. In the heart of a 
barren waste known as Boulder Field he found a nugget for 
which the transportation company gave him $5700. He located 
his claim at the find and in four months had taken out over 
$100,000. 

Henry Lamprecht wrote from the Klondike to say that there 
are miles of rich pay dirt all through the region. Men have 



90 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

taken a tub of water into their cabin and with a pan " panned 
out " $2000 in less than a day. This is said to be equal to 
about $40,000 a day in the summer with sluice boxes. They 
get from $10 to $100 a pan average and a choice or picked pan 
as high as $250, and it takes about thirty minutes to wash a pan 
of dirt. 

Three hundred thousand dollars' worth of gold from the 
Klondike found its way to Minnesota in the possession of Peter 
Olafson and Charles Erickson, two Scandinavians, who returned 
to Two Harbors after putting in five years in Alaska. 

A little over five years ago the two men, aged twenty-seven 
and thirty years, respectively, were employed in the blacksmith 
shops of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad at Two Harbors. 
They heard of the gold fields in Alaska and decided to go there 
and seek a fortune. For three years they labored in vain, but 
two years ago they discovered a rich placer bed on the Stewart 
River, and later located claims on the Klondike. In the two 
years they say they cleaned up $150,000 each. 

A new mint record for one day's receipts at the San Francisco 
Mint was made August 3d, when $3,775,000 in gold was 
deposited at the branch mint for coinage. This represented the 
accumulation of six weeks. Three-quarters of a million of this 
was owned by the Alaska Commercial Company and was mainly 
from the Klondike. A large portion of the balance was also 
from the rich northern placers, and was deposited by various 
miners and smelting companies to whom it had been sold. This 
is said to be the largest sum deposited at a mint in a single day. 

Allan McLeod's Big Stake. 

Allan McLeod, of Perth, Scotland, came back with $92,500. 
His hands and feet were tied up in bandages, and his clothing 
was ragged and dirty as a result of a long sojourn in Alaska, 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 91 

He looked anything but prosperous, yet in his pocket reposed a 
draft for $92,500, and an attendant took care of a deer hide sack 
heavy with gold nuggets. 

Mr. McLeod is a baker by trade, a restaurant cook and pro- 
prietor by circumstance, a gold miner by accident and a rich 
man by luck. Inflammatory rheumatism, contracted in the gold 
fields, made a temporary cripple of him and rendered his journey 
painful, yet he had a light heart as he pictured the surprise he 
would give his old friends in Scotland when he landed with his 

treasure. 

Sold Out For $5,000. 

"I went to Alaska early last summer," said Mr. McLeod, 
" with a crowd of miners who came up the Sound from San 
Francisco. I was out of money and work, or I doubt whether 
I would have accepted the offer they made me to go along as 
cook. We reached Cook's Inlet June 20th, and things looked so 
discouraging we went back to Juneau. There we bought sup- 
plies and started for Dawson City, 750 miles away. We camped 
there, and I did the cooking for the boys. They did very well, 
but the gold fever took them farther east, and I remained to cook 
for another gang of miners. I made good wages, and finally 
had enough to start a restaurant. In two weeks I sold the place 
for $5000, and went placer mining with a half-breed for a 
partner. 

"We had good luck from the start, and I would have remained 
but for a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. It would 
have killed me but for the nursing of my partner. He carried 
me most of the way to Juneau, where I got passage on a fishing 
schooner to 'Frisco. I am satisfied with what I've got in money, 
and hope to get rid of my rheumatism before long. Great for- 
tunes are being found by many men, and no one knows the ex- 
tent of the gold fields that are constantly developing." 



92 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

A San Francisco paper, under date of July 23d, prints the fol- 
lowing : 

" Five French Canadians who were successful on the Klon- 
dike, and are now bound for Montreal, are at the Commercial 
Hotel in this city. They came from Seattle, having reached that 
city by the steamer Portland. They could not get the prices for 
their nuggets that they wanted there, nor will they accept the bid 
made by the Selby smelting works in this city. As the San 
Francisco mint is closed pending the change of administration, 
these five miners will carry their bullion to Philadelphia and ex- 
change it there for coin of the United States." 

J. O. Hestwood Sees Millions. 

J. O. Hestwood, of Seattle, is a typical returned Argonaut. 
He is a small man, weighing not over impounds, and has light 
blue eyes, clear skin and a firm square jaw. He has been a 
preacher, teacher and lecturer, having delivered lectures all over 
the coast of Alaska to pay his way up there. He spent three 
years in the territory before his great opportunity came. He 
was at Glacier Creek when the news was brought down of the 
immense strike in Bonanza Creek. Here is his story in his own 
words, which give an admirable idea of the way the mines are 
worked : 

"With hundreds I rushed to the new fields. After a few days 
I became disgusted and started to leave the country. I had 
gone only a short distance down the river when my boat got 
stuck in the ice and I was forced to foot it back to Dawson 
City. 

"Well, it was Providence that did that. I purchased claim 
No. 60, below Discovery claim, and it proved one of the richest 
pieces of ground in the district. My claim will average 1 6 or 17 
cents to the pan, and in addition to what I have already taken 




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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 



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out, there is at least $250,000 in sight. Last season I worked 
thirty men, and I intend to employ more next year." 

B. W. Shaw, a former insurance man of Seattle, writing from 
Klondike, says he does not expect to be believed when he says 
he counted five five-gallon oil cans full of gold dust in one 
cabin, the result of a 
winter's work by two 
men. He adds that 100 
ounces have been taken 
out of a single pan. 

William Kulju sold 
his claim for $25,000, 
brought down 1000 
ounces of dust and 
started home for Fin- 
land. 

Fred. Lendeseen went 
to Alaska two years ago, 
and in July brought 
down $13,000 in dust, 
besides having an in- 
terest in a claim. 

Greg Stewart sold his 



share in 
$45,000. 



a claim for 




ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. 

Thomas Flack brought along $6000 in dust - for expenses, 
and said he had refused $50,000 for his share of a claim, out 
of which his partners realized, respectively, $50,000 and $55,000. 

J. B. Hollingshead had $25,000 in dust to show for two years' 
work. 

M. S. Norcross said : "I was sick and couldn't work, so I 
cooked for Mr. McNamee. Still I had a claim on the Bonanza, 



94 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

but didn't know what was in it because I couldn't work it. I 
sold out last spring for $10,000, and was satisfied to get a chance 
to return to my home in Los Angeles." 

John Marks reported thus about his " pile : " "I brought 
$11,500 in gold dust with me, but I had to work for every bit 
of it. There is plenty of gold in Alaska — more, I believe, than 
the most sanguine imagine — but it cannot be obtained without 
great effort and endurance." 

This is Talbot Fox's story : " I and my partner went into the 
district in 1895 and secured two claims. We sold one for 
$45,000. I brought 300 ounces, which netted $5000. Every- 
body is at Dawson for the present. The district is apt to be 
overrun. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there this fall, for 
people are liable to go hungry before spring. About 800 went 
over the summit from Juneau, 600 miles, so there may not 
be food enough for all." 

Riches on the American Side. 

F. G. H. Bowker, a Yukoner of six months' standing, brought 
out $40,000 and the information that the placers were richer on 
the American than on the Canadian side of the boundary line. 

Wonderful tales are told of the great richness of the Klondike 
placers. More than one man reports having obtained $1000 
from a single pan washing, while reports of yields of $500 and 
$600 to the pan are numerous. An ordinary pan of gravel will 
weigh twenty-five pounds and a yield of $1000 worth of gold 
means sixty-two ounces, or nearly one-sixth of the entire bulk 
in precious metal. The average is said to be fifty dollars to the 
pan, and this is phenomenal when it is taken into consideration 
that the California pan washer was well pleased with a uniform 
product of three dollars to a washing, and could make money 
with a yield running as low as fifty cents. With this kind of 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKF. 35 

field to work in, it is small wonder that claim-holders gladly pay 
fifteen dollars a day for common labor, and are unable to get 
anything like a fair supply at that. It is only men who are 
" broke" who are willing to work for wages. 

Fever Strikes the Navy. 

Lieutenant John Bryan, of Lexington, who is on the revenue 
cutter Rush, stationed at Unalaska, Alaska, watching the seal 
fisheries, writes under date of July 9th to relatives in Kentucky 
that the Alaska gold fields are not overestimated. H^ says the 
placer mining is in the old bed of the Yukon River. He says : 

" You dig no deeper than fifteen feet into the rivei bed when 
you strike a strata of pure gold nuggets among the stones. 
There are eighty claims already taken, each 5,000 feet long and 
the width of the river bed. 

" The great obstacle in reaching the gold fields is the uncom- 
fortable mode of travel. Steamers go no further than the mouth 
of the Yukon, and you have to walk the 1000 miles or pay the 
extravagant fare asked by the company, which runs a small boat 
up the river and finally lands you near the gold fields. 

" All who are fortunate enough to reach the country are cer- 
tain to find employment, even if they do not strike a claim, 
which at present they could avoid only by not looking for it. 
The poorest miners will pay fifteen dollars a day for help op 
their claims, but it will cost five dollars per day to live unless 
you take your provisions with you." 

The lieutenant says he has the gold fever badly, and if it were 
not for the fact that he is in the government service he would go 
to the new Eldorado. 

The Toronto Globe says editorially of the Klondike situation : 

" While there is probably much exaggeration in the stories 
that are brought back from the Yukon, it is only necessary to 



96 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

read the calm official reports of Mr. Ogilvie, the well-known 
officer of the Geological Survey, to realize that it is equally 
possible that there is no exaggeration in them at all. Mr. Ogil- 
vie's notes read like passages from Monte Cristo. Writing on 
December 9, 1896, he said : ' Bonanza Creek and tributaries are 
increasing in richness and extent until now it is certain that mil- 
lions will be taken out of the district in the next few years. On 
some of the claims prospected the pay dirt is of great extent 
and very rich. One man told me yesterday that he had washed 
out a single pan of dirt on one of the claims on Bonanza and 
found fourteen dollars and twenty-five cents. Of course that 
may be an exceptionally rich pan, but five to seven dollars per 
pan is the average on that claim it is reported, with five feet of 
pay dirt and the width yet undetermined ; but it is known to be 
thirty feet even at that ; figure the result at nine to ten pans to 
the cubic foot, and 500 feet long — nearly $4,000,000 at five 
dollars per pan. One-fourth of this would be enormous. 
Another claim has been prospected to such an extent that it is 
known there is about five feet pay dirt averaging two dollars per 
pan, and width not less than thirty feet. Enough prospecting 
has been done to show that there are at least fifteen miles of this 
extraordinary richness, and the indications are that we will have 
three or four times that extent, if not all equal to the above, at 
least very rich.' " 

Captain McGregor's Story. 

Captain John G. McGregor, of Minnesota, went into Alaska 
last March, and the last of letters to his relatives came from the 
land of gold June 14th. This was before the rush of the fortune 
hunters had begun or before, in fact, much was known of the 
Dawson City diggings. Notwithstanding that fact, the letter 
contains estimates of wealth which distance far and away any of 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 97 

the hitherto published accounts of the yield from Alaska's glit- 
tering sands. 

" We have washed $3000 to a single pan," says the captain, 
in one of his letters. This is almost incredible. It would be 
quite so in fact were it not for his well-known reputation. He 
has been a mining expert for thirty years, and much of that time 
has been engaged in the very work he is now doing — placer 
mining. 

Up to date the world's record has been $1000 a pan. This 
was in Montana at Montana Bar. There was a group of prop- 
erties in what was known as the Confederate Gulch, and every 
100 feet for half a mile along the shore produced $1000 a pan 
for every washing. The year was 1868. Captain McGregor 
owned those properties then, and does now, so that in the present 
instance his word must command a good deal of respect on that 

ground alone. 

Results of Prospects. 

His attention was directed to the Yukon valley basin some 
time ago, and a year ago last March he sent two men who had 
been in his pay for a number of years out to prospect. He 
heard from them from time to time, but the message he waited 
for did not come until last March. Then the word he received 
caused him to form a party immediately. He had had his prep- 
arations all planned, and within a very short time was breasting 
the mountain snows in the Chilkoot pass. He could not wait for 
the warm season, and made the trip successfully, though at the 
expense of considerable suffering by members of his expedition. 
On his arrival he immediately assumed charge at the claims 
which had been located and staked out by his men, with the 
result that he uncovered the tremendously rich find he reports. 

Captain McGregor began his prospecting immediately after the 
war. He came into control of the Confederate Gulch properties 

7 



38 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

shortly after his start, and most of the gold taken out was 
washed under his direct management. The gulch was then 500 
miles from the borders of civilization, and each installment of 
the yellow stuff had to be escorted down to the railroad by 
armed bodies of 200 or 300 men. The metal was packed in 
beer kegs and so carried without trouble. 

The captain is a Scotchman and has all the caution and con- 
servatism characteristic of the nationality. Coming from such a 
source, the character of his statement is far superior to the 
report which might be brought from some prospector or from 
entirely irresponsible parties. Captain McGregor has had men 
in his employ and prospecting various regions since the seventies. 
He is now looking for quartz, and will undoubtedly, later on, 
place himself at the head of some very important deep-earth 
operations. 

Placer mining will pay when not more than twenty-five cents 
is realized on a pan. The operation is very generally familiar, 
even to those who know nothing about mining. The earth 
washed in the Confederate Gulch was so dazzlingly heavy with 
gold that it seemed as if it were nearly pure, so it can be 
imagined what description the wash from the Klondike soil must 
take on. 

How Berry Got His Stake. 

Clarence Berry, the " Barney Barnato " of the Klondike, tells 
a thrilling story of his experience. 

Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern part of California. He 
did not have any money. There was no particular prospect that 
he would ever have any. He saw a life of hard plodding for a 
bare living. There was no opportunity at home of getting 
ahead, and, like other men of the far West, he only dreamed of 
the day when he would make a strike and get his million. This 
was three years ago. There had then come down from the 



100 STRIKE IT RICH. ON KLONDIKE. 

frozen lands of Alaska wonderful stories of rewards for men 
brave enough to run a fierce ride with death from starvation and 
cold. He had nothing to lose and all to gain. He concluded 
to face the danger. His capital was forty dollars. He proposed 
to risk it all — not very much to him now, but a mighty sight 
three years ago. It took all but five dollars to get him to 
Juneau. He had two big arms, the physique of a giant and 
the courage of an explorer. Presenting all these as his only 
collaterals, he managed to squeeze a loan of sixty dollars from a 
man who was afraid to go with him, but was willing to risk a 
little in return for a promise to pay back the advance at a fabu- 
lous rate of interest. 

Juneau was alive with men three years ago who had heard 
from the Indians the yarns of gold without limit. The Indians 
brought samples of the rock and sand and did well in trading 
them. A party of forty men banded to go back with the 
Indians. Berry was one of the forty. Each had an outfit — a 
year's mess of frozen meat and furs. It was early spring when 
the first batch of prospectors started out over the mountains, 
and the snow was as deep as the cuts in the sides of the hills, 
the natives packed the stuff to the top of Chilkoot pass. It 
was life and death every day. The men were left one by one 
along the cliffs. 

Disaster to the Outfit. 

The timid turned back. The whole outfit of supplies went 
down in Lake Bennett. The forty men had dwindled to three 
— Berry and two others. The others chose to make the return 
trip for more food. Berry wanted gold. He borrowed a chunk 
of bacon and pushed on. He reached Forty Mile Creek within 
a month. There was not a cent in his pocket. The single 
chance for him was work with those more prosperous. His pay 
was $100 a month. It was not enough, and, looking for better 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 



101 



pay, he drifted from one end of the gulch to the other, always 
keeping his shrewed eye open for a chance to fix a claim of his 
own. There was a slump in the prospects of the district and 
he concluded to go back to the world. 

The slump was not the only 
reason. There was a young 
woman back in Fresno who 
had promised to be his wife. 
Berry came from the hidden 
world without injury and Miss 
Ethel D. Bush kept her 
pledge. They were married. 

Berry told his bride about 
the possibilities of Alaska. She 
was a girl of the mountains. 
She said she had not married 
him to be a drawback, but a 
companion. If he intended 
or wanted to go back to the 
Eldorado, she proposed to go 
with him. She reasoned that 
he would do better to have 
her at his side. His pictures 
of the dangers and hardships had no effect upon her. It 
was her duty to face as much as he was willing to face. 
They both decided it was worth the try — success at a bound 
rather than years of common toil. Berry declared he knew 
exactly where he could find a fortune. Mrs. Berry convinced 
him that she would be worth more to him in his venture than 
any man that ever lived. Furthermore, the trip would be a bridal 
tour which would certainly be new and far from the beaten tracks 
of sighing lovers. 




MINER 



HARD LUCK. 



102 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

Mr. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau in May, 1896. They had 
little capital but lots of determination. They took the boat to 
Dyea, and the rest of the journey was made with dogs. They 
slept on a bed of boughs under a tent. They reached Forty- 
Mile Creek a year ago in June, three months after they were 
married. They called it their wedding trip. 

Off for the Discovery. 

Klondike was still a good way off, and it was thought at first 
that the claims closer at hand would pay. One day a miner 
came tearing into the settlement with most wonderful tales of the 
region further on. His descriptions were like fairy tales from 
"Arabian Nights " — accounts fitting accurately the scenes in 
spectacular plays, where the nymph or queen of fairy land bids 
her slaves to pick up chunks of gold as big as the crown of a 
hat. Berry told the tale to his wife. She said she would stay 
at the post while he went to' the front. There was no rest that 
night in the camp. Men were rushing out pellmell, bent on 
nothing but getting first into the valley of the Klondike and 
establishing claims. Mrs. Berry worked with her husband with 
might and main, and before daylight he was on the road over 
the pass. There were fifty long miles between him and fortune, 
and he worked without sleep or rest to beat the great field 
which started with him. He made the track in two days. He 
was among the first in. He staked Claim 40, above the Dis- 
covery; which means that his property was the fortieth one 
above the first Aladdin. It was agreed that each claim should 
have 500 feet on the river — the Bonanza. This was the begin- 
ning of Berry's fortune. He then began to trade for interests in 
other sites. He secured a share in three of the best on Eldorado 
Creek. There is no one living who can tell how much this 
property is worth. It has only been worked in the crudest way, 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 103 

yet five months netted him enough to make him a rich man the 
rest of his life. There are untold and inestimable millions where 
the small sum from the top was taken. 

Berry gives all the credit of his fortune to his young wife. It 
was possible for her to have kept him at home, after the first 
trip. She told him to return — and she returned with him. It 
was an exhibition of rare courage, but rare courage rarely fails. 
The wedding trip lasted about fifteen months. Berry says it was 
worth $1,000,000 a month. This estimate is one measured in 
cold cash^not sentiment. 

One day while they were working the claim on Eldorado 
Creek, Mr. and Mrs. Berry gathered $595 from a single pan of 
dirt. This dust they have saved in a pan by itself. 

Mrs. C. C. Adams' Letter. 

Mrs. Chester C. Adams, who went from Tacoma to Dawson 
City last April, writing under date of June 17th, says that miners 
were then coming into Dawson City daily with all the gold dust 
they could carry. It was considered a small matter to have 100 
pounds. Many were bringing this amount in as a result of seven 
or eight months' working of claims on shares. 

Other men brought to Dawson from 200 to 500 pounds of 
gold dust, and Mrs. Adams makes the startling statement that one 
man had brought in 1300 pounds, which would amount to over 
$250,000. 

Her husband estimated that the steamer then loading at Daw- 
son would take over $2,000,000 to St. Michael's, from which 
point it will be brought out by the steamers Portland and Excel- 
sior on their next trips down. They are due between August 1 5th 
and September 1st. 

Mrs. Adams declares the whole truth regarding Klondike has 
not been told and cannot be, because people would not believe 



104 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

it. She tells of new discoveries this spring on the Stewart River 
and Henderson Creek and the creeks emptying into them. 

High water had prevented complete prospecting, but when she 
wrote it was known that some dirt considerably above bed rock 
would run $10 and $12 per pan. Bed rock cannot be reached 
until winter. 

Miners are also preparing to do more thorough work on 
Chicken, Mastodon, Miller, American, Last Chance and other 
creeks, on which men formerly took out as high as $30 per day 
each. These creeks were deserted by last fall's rush to the 
Klondike. 

When she wrote new creeks were being found and prospected 
in all directions from Dawson, and every day witnessed a stam- 
pede of men to one or another of them. 

She speaks of an overland trip as one of pleasure rather than 
hardship when properly made. 

Ship Gold in Barrels. 

Warren Shea, of New Whatcom, Wash., a reputable and re- 
liable man, writes from Klondike to his brother, S. Shea, of New 
Whatcom, and says the next boat to leave the gold field will 
bring out dust and nuggets in barrels. 

Two days after the boat that brought out the miners, who 
arrived on Puget Sound aboard the steamer Portland, left Daw- 
son City one of the largest stores at that place was closed and 
the building was turned into a gold packing warehouse. So 
great a quantity of gold was offered for shipment that it was 
decided to pack it in barrels holding about twenty-two gal- 
lons. 
The barrels have heretofore been used for packing salt fish. 

An interesting letter from Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer 
Excelsior, describing his last voyage to Alaska, is as follows : 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 



105 



" Bonanza Creek dumps into Klondike about two miles above 
the Yukon. 

"Eldorado is a tributary of the Bonanza. There are numer- 
ous other creeks and tributaries, the main river being 300 miles 
long. 





PUGET SOUND AND MT. RAINER. 

"The gold so far has been 
taken from Bonanza and Eldo- 
rado creeks, both well named, for 
the richness of the placers is 
truly marvelous. ^^gwatfsKSS^^ 

" The Eldorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length, 
and as far as worked has paid. 

" Each claim is 500 feet long and is worth half a million. 

"So uniform has the output been that one miner, who has an 
interest in three claims, told me that if offered his choice he 
would toss up to decide. One of our passengers, who is taking 
$1000 with him, has worked 100 feet of his ground and refused 



106 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

$200,000 for the remainder, and confidently expects to clean up 
$400,000 and more. 

" He has in a bottle $212 from one pan of dirt. 

" His pay dirt while being washed averaged $250 an hour to 
each man shoveling in. 

" Two others of our miners who worked their own claims 
cleaned up $6000 from the day's washing. 

"There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bed rock, the pay 
streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunneled out 
while the ground is frozen. 

" Of course the ground taken out is thawed by building fires, 
and when the thaw comes and water rushes in they set their 
sluices and wash the dirt. 

Sold Out for $45,000. 

" Two of our fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth 
a large one in the bush and sold their claims for $45,000, getting 
$4500 down, the remainder to be paid in monthly installments 
of $10,000 each. 

" The purchasers had no more than $5000 paid. They were 
twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. 

" Then there was no water to sluice with, but one fellow made 
a rocker, and in ten days took out the $10,000 for the first 
installments. So, tunneling and rocking, they took out $40,000 
before there was water to sluice with. 

" Of course these things read like the story of Aladdin, but 
fiction is not at all in it with facts at Klondike. 

" The ground located and prospected can be worked out in a 
few years, but there is still an immense territory untouched, and 
the laboring man who can get there with one year's provisions 
will have a better chance to make a stake than in any other part 
of the world." 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 107 

W. F. Parish, of Chicago, has received from a business asso- 
ciate in Spokane, Wash., H. D. Heacock, a letter written to the 
latter by J. F. Wallace, dated Klondike, Northwest Territory, 
May 14th. It is as follows : 

" I have been here a month or so. There is a placer mining 
camp, discovered last summer and supposed to be as rich as 
Alder Gulch in Montana. They have got as much as $800 to 
a pan, and will have out over $2,000,000 this winter. There are 
three creeks known to be good. Eldorado is the richest, there 
being four miles without a blank claim, and all selling from 
$50,000 to $100,000 each. Some will not sell at any price. It 
is in British territory, fifty miles above Forty Mile Post, on the 
bank of the Yukon River. Mostly every one has left Circle 
City and come up on the ice. During the winter provisions 
were scarce. Boats did not get up here last fall on account of 
the ice. Flour was $1.30 per pound, bacon $1.50 per pound, 
shovels, $20 each. Dogs sold for $200 and $300 each for 
freighting. Freight cost $1 per pound from Circle City here. 
Wages are $15 per day. Lumber is $600 per 1000 feet at the 
mines. Mines are from five to twenty miles from Dawson City, 
situated at the mouth of the Klondike. Claims are 500 feet in 
length. Ground frozen from top to bottom and has to be thawed 
with fire. Mostly drifting diggings about twenty feet deep. 
Some twenty or thirty claims will open from top. I did not get 
here in time to locate, so I am still a prospector. Very mild 
winter ; only seventy-four below zero the coldest. River frozen 
yet, but expect it to break almost any day." 

Inspector Strickland's Report. 

A special from Regina, Northwest Territory, says : " Inspector 
Strickland, of the Northwest mounted police arrived here last 
night from the Yukon. 



108 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

" Mr. Strickland does not believe the story of $250,000 having 
been made there by any one man, but says the most liberal truths 
read like fairy tales. It is hard to say just what is being made. 
The miners are reticent about their earnings. He says that 
miners who have come out and staked claims this year, number- 
ing about 100, have taken or sent away sums varying from $5000 
to $50,000 each, and have kept back considerable sums for 
development and other investments. Miners from California, 
Australia and South Africa say that nothing in the world has 
been struck as rich. 

" Inspector Strickland says that if the country fills up as 
rapidly as it is doing, the two trading companies will not be able 
to supply food for the inhabitants. Provisions are not so dear 
as might be expected : Flour is $12 a hundred ; bacon 40 cents 
a pound ; canned meats 75 cents and $1, and cariboo and moose 
flesh is sold by the Indians at 50 cents a pound. Inspector 
Strickland strongly recommends that no person should go out 
to the Yukon district without taking with him a year's food, as 
well as some money, because paying claims are not always found 
immediately, and there is the long and hard work of building a 
home. He says that mining is not a picnic. All is hard work. 
Wood is scarce and requires a great deal of labor. The climate 
is healthy and there is very little sickness. The chief complaints 
are scurvy, kidney trouble, and rheumatism. 

" Though the winter is eight months long, it is only three weeks 

that the sun is not seen. Miners' wages are fifteen dollars a day, 

but this rate will fall soon if the present rush continues from the 

Pacific coast." 

Finds No Hard Times. 

J. P. Staley, who is working a claim on Bonanza Creek, wrote 
to C. P. Enright, of Gilman, Ills., as follows : 

" There is no doubt this is the best place to make money in 




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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 109 

the world. Sell out and come here. We need live business 
men. Flour is $12 a hundred, bacon 40 cents a pound, sugar 
25 cents a pound, rice 25 cents a pound, any kind of dried fruit 
25 cents a pound. All kinds of canned fruit, 75 cents a can. 
Bring fur moccasins with you. They will fetch from $15 to $25 
a pair. 

" Brother Dan and I are working in a mine, or rather in a bed 
of a creek. We are getting $15 a day each for ten hours, and it 
is thought wages will be $25 a day during the winter. It takes 
about $600 a year each for provisions, blankets, gloves, mocca- 
sins, etc. We expect to remain here all winter. It is too long 
a trip to lose the chance of making a stake by refusing to stay. 

" Everbody is pleased with the country. There are no hard 
times. All have buckskin socks, containing more or less gold 
dust. There is no other kind of money. 

"During June and the first days of July it was very hot, but 
under the moss, which is eight inches thick, solid ice is encoun- 
tered. It has not been dark for over a month, and will not be 
until the last of September. It is possible to read any time du- 
ring the twenty-four hours. The sun goes behind the moun- 
tains about 10.30 p. m. and comes up about 1 a. m. Old-timers 
say the winters are not so bad even if the thermometer goes 
down to 70 degrees below zero. There is no wind. All dress 
in fur clothing. 

"I expect to work a claim on shares this week and will make 
plenty of money. No matter how big the stories are you hear 
of this place they are not big enough. I have received but one 
letter from home. It was forty-three days on the way." 

Go to Work for Wages. 

Two other letters from men who found it necessary to resort 
to day labor at the start are interesting reading. 



110 STRIKE IT RICH -ON KLONDIKE. 

Hart Humber, a young man who left Rossland, B. C, early- 
last spring and arrived at Dawson City, Northwest Territory, on 
June 9th, over the Chilkoot Pass route, writes the following : 

"Dawson City, N. W. T., June 18, 1897. — Friend Charlie: 
After leaving Dyea we had a trip full of hairbreadth escapes and 
arrived at Dawson City on June 9th. 

" I will start to work to-morrow morning at $1.50 per hour. 
I will work with pick and shovel about three weeks, and will 
then have a better job with the same outfit and will get an ounce 
of gold per day ($17). 

" There are at least fifty people going out on the boat to-mor- 
row, who are taking out all the way from $10,000 to $100,000. 

" This is undoubtedly the richest placer camp ever struck. 
The diggings are fifteen miles from Dawson. One Montana 
man took $96,000 out of forty-five square feet, another took 
$130,000 out of eighty-five square feet, and there are many 
more strikes equally as rich." 

Klondike Will Kill Bryan. 

Lewis W. Anderson, a Tacoma machinist, wrote this to his 
wife : 

" I have been here a little more than two months and have 
already secured a quarter interest in a claim for which I have 
been offered $26,000, but out of which I expect to make as my 
part more than $100,000 in the next year. This for us, you 
know, is a big thing, and yet there are dozens of men who are 
making ten times as much. 

" When I arrived my money had almost given out. I had 
only $31 left, so I worked ten days at sawing lumber at $15 per 
day to get a start. Nothing like this has ever been heard of in 
the world. Money, that is gold dust, is almost as plentiful as 
watei There are many hardships to be endured, but I expect 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. Ill 

to return to Tacoma next year safe and sound with lots of 
money. 

" Tell Henry that we will have to change our politics, because 
the Klondike will kill Bryan and the silver question and the 
money power of Wall Street will try to demonetize gold. The 
gold that will come out of here inside of two or three years 
will make Wall Street more anxious to demonetize gold than it 
ever was to demonetize silver." 

But in spite of this long list, at best only partial, of men and 
women who have " struck it rich," there is another side to the 
question, and fairness towards the reader demands it to have a 
showing. Let it speak for itself. 

Hestwood Tells of Drawbacks. 

J. O. Hestwood, who brought a small fortune with him to 
Seattle, in an article telegraphed from Seattle to the New York 
World, says : 

" Modern or ancient history records nothing so nch in extent 
as the recent discoveries of gold on the tributaries of the Yukon 
River. The few millions of dollars recently turned into the 
banks and smelters of Seattle and San Francisco from the Klon- 
dike district is but a slight indication of what is to follow in the 
near future. When we consider the fact that there is scarcely a 
shovelful of soil in Alaska and the Northwest Territory that 
does not yield grains of gold in appreciable quantities, who can 
compute the value of the golden treasure that the great country 
will yield in the next few years ? 

" The Yukon River, which forms a great artery flowing 
through this frozen, rock-ribbed region for 2600 miles, seems 
to be a providential highway, opened up for the pioneer gold 
hunters and their followers, who are numbered by thousands 
yearly. There is room in that country for 100,000 miners for 



112 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

IOO years. I do not make this statement from what some one 

else has told me, or from what I have read. I speak from 

actual experience in that land of gold. I have traveled over her 

rivers of ice and mountains of snow in the springtime for three 

years. 

Perils of the Trail. 

" Four years ago last May, when I first went into that country, 
little was known of its wonderful possibilities. With a heavy 
outfit strapped to the backs of Indians, squaws and dogs, I 
struggled over the trail from Dyea, on the southern coast of 
Alaska, to Sheep camp, twelve miles distant, which was my first 
camping place. 

" The softening snow, under the sun's hot rays, rendered 
traveling difficult, and it was a pitiable sight to watch the half- 
starved, half-clothed Indians struggling along with their heavy 
burdens on their backs, climbing the mountain side, frequently 
breaking through drifted snow and being buried almost out of 
sight ; wading icy streams, falling from foot logs and enduring 
hardships from which death would seem a welcome relief. 

" The endurance of these Indians, or human beasts of burden, 
was a constant surprise to me. I remember one young buck 
whose smallest load was 1 50 pounds. His wife was a young 
squaw, who, with seventy-five pounds strapped to her back and 
a four-weeks-old child in her arms, struggled up the Chilkoot 
Pass, where the declivity was so steep that we were compelled 
to dig steps in the ice and snow in order to make the ascent. 
One poor old Indian, I remember, had but half a dozen small 
cawdle fish and one grouse to subsist on for three days. 

"We were landed on the summit of Chilkoot Pass, 4100 feet 
above the sea level, at Dyea, in the midst of a terrific snow storm, 
such as takes place frequently in this pass in the spring of the 
year, endangering the lives of many who attempt going over 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 113 

it. The blinding snow rendered it dangerous in the ex- 
treme to attempt the descent from the mountain toward Lake 
Linderman, the headwaters of the Yukon River. To make 
matters worse, the clouds settled down on the mountain top, 
and we dared not leave the camp for more than a few hundred 
feet for fear we might lose our footing and be plunged over a 
precipice or into some yawning chasm in the mountain. A mis- 
step meant death. 

Among the Awful Glaciers. 

" We took shovels and dug a hole in the ice and snow and 
spread a tent over it, placing sacks of provisions on the tent to 
weigh it down so the fierce wind would not carry it away. Our 
supper consisted of a cup of tea and a few crumbs of bread. 
Great glaciers were sleeping all around us, but there was little 
sleep for the weary travelers that night. The glaciers, however, 
seemed to be endowed with life and fits of wakefulness, for every 
now and then we would hear a crackling sound, followed by a 
noise as of crashing thunder, and 10,000 tons of sleeping giants 
would be precipitated from the mountain heights and shattered 
into icy diamonds to feed the roaring torrents in the chasm 
below. 

" Morning broke bright and clear. There was no wood on 
the mountain top, and we were compelled to chop up a sled for 
fuel. This was expensive. We tried to breakfast on a pot of 
half-cooked beans and a little coffee, which would freeze at the 
slightest provocation. Two sleds were then loaded with pro- 
visions and started down the mountain. They went with a 
velocity as if fired from a cannon until they struck the ice in 
Crater Lake, three-quarters of a mile below. After that every 
foot of the ground we gained was by the most excruciating 
labor a human being can be subjected to. 

" Two weeks were consumed in reaching Lake Linderman, 



114 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

eleven miles farther on. Another week had passed before a 
boat was completed with which we could make our way down 
the river. While in camp at Lake Linderman one of the party 
injured his knee, and three times a hunting knife had to be 
brought into requisition and incisions made. Only after the 
most careful nursing was he able to proceed on the journey. 
Men are often taken with snow blindness in that country and lie 
helpless for days in their tents, unable to cook enough to sus- 
tain life. If deserted by their companions in this condition their 
fate is sealed. 

On to Forty Mile. 

" From this point we encountered few difficulties in the way of 
river transportation until we reached Forty Mile, which is located 
where the 141st meridian crosses the Yukon. Between Marsh 
Lake and Lake Lebarge there is sixty miles of river, in which 
occur the Grand Canon and the White Horse Rapids. Before 
reaching Grand Canon the river is wide and smooth, when all 
at once the water is forced through the canon at incredible speed. 
The canon is a crevice where the mountain has been split in 
twain, apparently, to make an outlet for the water. The walls 
are perpendicular on either side, rising to a height of 100 feet. 
Three miles below is the White Horse Rapids ; the most danger- 
ous portion of the Yukon River. 

" I simply mention these facts in order that any one who 
thinks of going into that country may know before hand that 
the search for gold there is preceded by hardships and privations 
which they little dream of unless they have penetrated the 
American land of the midnight sun. But after the dangers are 
passed the adventurer finds himself in a country rich in mineral 
resources. 

" Mark you, the country has yet given but a faint indication 
of its real wealth. The gold that has been found only points 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 115 

the way to the true deposits, which will prove to be the wonder 
of the world." 

John Welch, a former employe in an Indianapolis iron foundry, 
has written to his mother from Circle City, saying he has been in 
the Alaskan gold fields for fifteen months and could come home 
at any time with a few thousand dollars, but he prefers to remain 
a while longer and return rich. He says that gold nuggets 
worth from twenty to fifty dollars are being found daily, but 
many men have become insane from hardships and from dis- 
appointment. Successful miners are squandering fortunes in 
reckless extravagance. 

Says Lucky Ones Are Few. 

William Ireland has sent a letter from Alaska which ought to 
be a warning to men who are hastening to the field without 
due deliberation. He says : 

"Undoubtedly it is true that some very rich discoveries have 
been made on the Klondike in the last year or so. I have been 
in the midst of the excitement and know that a large amount of 
gold has been taken out. As in California, a few lucky ones 
have made the killing. 

" Of the 200 miners working near where I am located thirty- 
one are mine owners and the others laborers. I receive $10 a 
day, and I can work about 165 days during the year. The cost of 
living, I should say, would average about $2 per day per year, 
and at this price I enjoy none of the luxuries. I am on an 
equality with the rest of the workers, only three of whom 
receive higher wages. 

" The mine-owners are making fortunes. Just how much 
money has been taken out can only be roughly guessed at, but 
it is certain that the placers here are exceedingly rich. Those 
who come from California, if they possess money enough, may 



116 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

succeed in making a strike, but I would not advise anyone to 
come up here without a sufficient supply of money to carry him 
over a year. There is plenty of country to prospect in, and the 
summers are delightful, so that for about five and a half months 
in the year a miner can work out of doors as well here as in 
California. Be sure and send a big supply of papers. If I were 
starting out again, I would carry at least one-third of my load 
in reading matter. Life in the long months of winter is unbear- 
ably dull without something to read." 

Kills Himself on the Road. 

There is a story of despair and death from the rush into 
Alaska gold fields. It comes from Lake Linderman on the 
Dyea route, and the victim was Frank Matthews, of Seattle. 

Matthews and his partner, George Folsom, had safely crossed 
the divide, and were rafting their supplies along the lakes toward 
the Yukon. In the rapids between Lakes Linderman and Ben- 
nett the raft went to pieces, the supplies were scattered along 
the river, and Matthews was rescued after a severe injury to his 
leg. His partner placed him in a comfortable position and 
started back for help. Before going a hundred yards he heard 
the report of a rifle and was horrified to find Matthews shot 
dead. Undoubtedly he committed suicide. 

Miss Mary E. Mellor, superintendent of the United States 
Indian Training School at Unalaska, who came on the Portland, 
July 17th, said the hardships in the Northwestern gold region 
are terrible. Summers are short, winters long and the supply of 
food and clothing inadequate. 

"When I left flour was selling at the rate of $50 a sack, and 
if the luxury of eggs was indulged in, the consumers paid $4 
per dozen. Then it must be remembered that each egg of the 
twelve was not what a Pennsylvania farmer would consider 




PLACER MIXING— HYDRAULIC SYSTEM 




OLD BLOCK HOUSE BUILT IN 1805 FOR PROTECTION 
AGAINST THE INDIANS 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 117 

freshly laid. Clothing is also hard to obtain and is high in 
price, the majority of the gold seekers wearing clothes made of 
coarse woolen blankets." 

Fred. Moss returned from Klondike to Great Falls, Mont., 
and said the upper Yukon was a country of starvation, outlawry 
and death. He had no story about how much he was worth 
and exhibited no dust. 

J. D. Clements, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., told a story something 
like Moss'. He said he almost starved to death while prospect- 
ing. But he brought back $40,000 and said he would return to 
Klondike in the spring 

Mrs. Poppy Calls on Mrs. Gage. 

Among the many women who called on Mrs. Eli Gage in 
Chicago before she started for Dawson City was a Mrs. Poppy, 
whose husband had spent fifteen years in Alaska. Mrs. Gage 
told her that if her husband had been long in the gold fields, he 
could probably give her more information than . she could. 
According to Mrs. Poppy, the stories her husband tells indicate 
that there are some things in Alaska that are quite as valuable 
as gold, and his experience has demonstrated that some of them 
are really " worth their weight in gold." At one time when he 
was in the gold fields he had in his possession 300 ounces of 
virgin yellow metal, but not enough food to maintain the spark 
of life in a rabbit. 

E. W. Egalbrecht, who went over Chilkoot Pass in February, 
wrote back from Dawson City in June, as follows : 

"If I and many another had known anything about the hard- 
ships and exposures of this trip we would not have gone. It 
took me three days and half of the nights to reach Pleasant 
Camp with my outfit, and I will only add that when I slept at 
the foot of the canon during the last night I awoke to find my 



118 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

camp six inches under water. All my clothes were soaked and 
my misery was indescribable. My feet especially suffered, be- 
cause the skin had become very soft from perspiring in the rub- 
ber boots, and sore from walking, so that I suffered excruciating 
pain at times. I also suffered much from nausea, not being able 
to accustom myself to the food. The everlasting odor of bacon 
and beans that clung to everything took away my appetite. The 
poorest hut in civilization seems like a palace, but people never 
know when they are well off. 

" I have worked hard all my life, but it is nothing compared to 
what one has to accomplish on a trip like this. Snow and ice 
all around wherever one looks, and one's face feels as though he 
was being whipped, but we had to push on if we did not want to 
perish. 

"At Sheep Camp we found about 200 miners, mostly from 
the Mexico and Al-Ki, all of whom were unable to proceed to 
Stone House, owing to the stormy weather. However, the wind 
died out, and now began some climbing up a steep mountain 
trail, with 100 pounds on the sled, as much as the strongest man 
could pull, otherwise he would be dragged backward. I tell 
you one's limbs tremble with the horrible exertion. Such a trip 
takes from two to three hours, and we made three of them. 

No Laughter in the Camps. 

" We were allowed thirty minutes for a lunch of frozen beans 
and a pipe of tobacco, and then forward again. If after such a 
day's work you pass through a camp you hear no laughter, but 
see only pale, tired faces. Everthing is quiet, and you might 
kick their hands and they would not move out of your way. 

" Fourteen hundred feet up a steep incline, step by step, with 
your feet firmly planted down and your pack on your back, you 
push on. If you slipped there would be no stop until you 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 119 

reached the bottom. In this way our journey continued for 
some time. We had many narrow escapes, and suffered severely 
from cold, but arrived eventually at our journey's end — Klon- 
dike, the land of promise and of gold." 

Mrs. Julia Cook, of San Francisco, received the following 
letter, via the Portland, from her husband, at Dawson City : 

"At last, at last, we reached here to-day. What we have 
lived through I will not trust to pen and paper ; the many little 
crosses on the road here — they count up over a hundred — speak 
only too plainly of the innumerable dangers of this terrible jour- 
ney. Let us rather pass over our experiences in silence, for 
surely we are fortunate to have reached here. Now we must 
get to work. 

"The news of the gold strike, though I feared it might be, is 
not exaggerated. On the contrary, all the stories are surpassed 
by the facts. There are fellows here of doubtful calling who 
since last fall have gathered in over $100,000. Two brothers 
have over $150,000. 

" We were in a great hurry to get here, and now learn that for 
a month work cannot be begun in the mines, although the roses 
and the most beautiful flowers are blooming. Still we can dig 
down but a few inches without striking ground frozen hard as 
rock. There is all kinds of work going on in this mushroom 
city, still there are plenty of idle men." 

Hurley's Pay-Dirt Swept Away. 

James Young, General Agent at Milwaukee for the Great 
Northern Railroad, received a Klondike nugget one day in 
August from James Hurley, a well-known mining promoter, 
who was active in operations on the Gogebic iron range during its 
palmy days. 

Mr. Hurley has had an interesting experience in Alaska. Mr, 



120 STRIKE IT RICH -ON KLONDIKE. 

Young sold him a ticket to that region some months ago, and 
was surprised to hear from him to-day. 

Accompanying the package containing the piece of metal was 
a letter from Mr. Hurley which stated that he had not become 
very rich, although he had acquired more money in Alaska than 
he ever had before. 

This is not Mr. Hurley's first experience in gold mining in 
Alaska. He went to that country with several friends as long 
ago as the 70' s. 

Most of the miners at that time were so poor they were com- 
pelled to wash the dirt as fast as possible, that they might get 
enough gold to exchange at the store for the necessaries of life. 

Hurley and his companions had plenty of money, and they 
conceived and partly carried out the idea of digging out a pile of 
the pay dirt, building their cabin up against it and washing it out 
during the winter, alongside of the fire in the cabin. 

By this plan they expected to keep themselves employed all 
winter, whereas by the ordinary method they would have to dis- 
continue operations all through the long winter. 

Just before the winter set in there was a big freshet that 
washed away the pile of pay dirt that they had been working all 
summer to secure. 

They were nearly out of money and lost courage. They made 

their way back to their homes, and Hurley did not return until about 

a year ago. 

Jerseymen Have Good Luck. 

W. J. Hibbert, one of a party of seven from Trenton, N. J., 
who went to the Yukon late in 1896, grubstaked by some Phila- 
delphia and Trenton merchants, has written back to his " angels " 
that the seven prospectors have laid claim to a large tract of rich 
dredger land, and that they will add to that area twenty-one 
placer claims. 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 121 

He tells some big stories about the luck of the prospectors in 
that country. One man worked five days, at the end of which 
time he cleaned up $40,000. Another man who had worked 
industriously two months found at the end of that time that he 
was $ 1 50,000 ahead of the game. 

J. R. Fitzgerald, of Springfield, O., wrote that a boat which 
he and his two companions had built was wrecked on the trip to 
Dawson City, and they lost everything they had ; but he had 
some friends connected with the Alaska Commercial Company 
and went to work at ten dollars a day as soon as he got there. 
He said the most dangerous places are the canon, White Horse 
Rapids, and Leads River, many people being drowned at those 
three places. 

Fitzgerald said that reports as to the richness of the Klondike 
fields have not been exaggerated, and he knows of as high as 
$1000 worth of dust being taken out of a single pan, while some 
claims now pay as high as $12,000 to $15,000 a day. 

The prospectors are locating new claims every day, which seem 
to be paying as well as the old. He said that miners frequently 
came down from the diggings loaded with sacks of dust weigh- 
ing from 100 to 300 pounds. He said that one eastern young 
man sold his claim for $30,000 and died of heart disease just as 
he was about to board the steamer on the return trip. 

Perish on the Glacier. 

Few of the tales of hardship endured by gold seekers in the 
Arctic surpass in thrilling . sadness the story of the deaths of 
Charles A. Blackstone, George Botcher and J. W. Malinque, ex- 
pert miners from Seattle, who were killed on the glacier last 
April. The three men went north on the steamer Lakme in 
March, 1896. For a time they were at Cook's Inlet, and later 
they went to Circle City. They remained in the district until 



122 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

March of this year, but fortune did not favor them, and March 
25th they started back to Seattle, intending to go to Portage Bay, 
an arm of Prince William Sound. March 27th they were seen 
on the glacier by a Mr. Gladhouse and by a Swede named Peter- 
son. They were never seen alive afterwards. 

Before Blackstone left this city he asked a friend, George Hall, 
to look out for his wife and family should anything happen him. 
When word reached this city that the three men had left Circle 
City and had not made connections with the steamer at Portage 
Bay Hall went to Alaska to investigate. He easily found traces 
of the men. They had lost their way and had ascended that 
terrible mountain, coming out on the wrong side of the glacier. 
Mr. Hall found how Blackstone, Botcher and Malinque, after 
searching the top of this perpendicular cliff, had crawled under a 

ledge of ice. 

Miners Frozen to Death. 

The following statement was found on Blackstone's body: 

" Saturday, April 4th 1897. — This is to certify that Botcher 
froze to death on Tuesday night. J. W. Malinque died on Wed- 
nesday forenoon, being frozen so badly. G. A. Blackstone had 
his ears, nose and four fingers on his right hand and two on his 
left hand frozen an inch back. The storm drove us on before it. 
It overtook us within an hour of the summit and drove us before 
it. It drove everything we had over the cliff except blankets and 
moose hide, which we all crawled under. Supposed to have been 
40 degrees below zero. On Friday I started for Salt Water. I 
don't know how I got there without outfit. On Saturday after- 
noon I gathered up everything. Have enough grub for ten 
days, providing bad weather does not set in. Sport was blown 
over the cliff. I think I can hear him howl once in awhile." 

The bodies of Malinque and Botcher were never found. 

H. Juneau, of Dodge City, Kansas, who was one of the 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 123 

founders of the town of Juneau, had something to say of the 
dark side of life in Alaska, in these words : 

" I have found the country full of disappointments, and I don't 
want to paint the picture too bright. Enough has not been said 
of the dark side. 

"It is no place for men of weak constitution. The hardships 
to be encountered require the strongest hearts and sinews as 
well. 

" I have seen nothing published of the fact that a large portion 
of the country is covered with a moss and vine which contains 
sharp thorns, like porcupine quills, with saw edges. These will 
penetrate leather boots, and when once in the flesh nothing but a 
knife will remove them. These are worse than the mosquito 
pest. 

"Another thing which must not be overlooked is the total lack 
of law in the interior. When only Indians and a few prospect- 
ors were in the country there was little need of courts, but with 
the great influx of mixed humanity lawlessness is almost sure to 
break out. 

"Alaska is a country on edge. It is so mountainous. Basins 
are mainly filled with ice. The weather is always hard in great 
extremes. Where there is no ice there is moss and devil's club, 
the latter a vine that winds around everything it can clutch. 
Persons walking become entwined in a network of moss and 
devil's club, and passage is extremely difficult and 'torturous' as 
well as tortuous." 

Leave Good Claims for Better. 

The opinion of Mrs. Eli Gage on the Klondike situation is 
interesting reading, for her opportunities to know have been 
exceptional. She says : 

" There are many claims along the best known creeks that 



124 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 



have been abandoned. The prospectors would be digging on 
them contentedly, earning big money every day. There would 
then come a report from some neighboring place of fabulously 
rich finds, and there would follow at once a wild rush. In this 
way sites that paid moderately were passed in the search of 
others that would banish poverty in a month. The two kings of 
the region were wise enough to profit by the craze which carried 




VERTICAL SECTION OF A QUARTZ MINE. 

the men along, and they bought claim after claim along the 
Bonanza and the Eldorado. I do not think any man on earth 
can guess how much these men are worth to-day. They would 
be millionaires to stay at home the balance of their lives and 
sell interests in the mines they now have in operation. 

" Experts say that the best mines are still to be found. It is 
an old saying that the existence of the placer mine merely 
shows that not far away the mother rock must be found. It 




TOTEM POLE. FORT WRANGLE, ALASKA 




THOUSANDS OF SEALS— ST. PAUL ISLAND, ALASKA 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 125 

looks as if the gold in the loose dirt about the creeks had been 
brought down from the mountains by some great glacier. The 
men who have gone in, and are going in, have no capital for 
machinery and the placer mining is the only kind they can 
undertake. The late comers and the men with money for 
machinery will probably search for quartz veins and get bigger 
fortunes with but comparatively small expenditures. It is 
reported by government officials and everybody else that the 
whole country is gold producing, and the work of 10,000 men 
who will be able to get there within the next twelve months will 
not begin to exhaust the resources. 

Advice of a '4Qer. 

No better words to close a chapter on the " luck " and experi- 
ences of the Klondike argonauts have been written than these 
from a '49er who " made his pile" before California was a State, 
and who still sympathizes with each one of the " thousand" 
gold seekers in the Arctic wilds who believes he is the " one " 
who is predestined to have fortune thrust upon him in the Yukon 
valley. He says, this snow-capped veteran of the early placers: 

" It was this belief that encouraged the multitude of '49, and 
populated California with refugees from every quarter of the 
globe ; it was the same idea that sent the tide of a tumultuous 
humanity into the deserts of Nevada to hunt for silver ; it was 
the same egotism that starved on Fraser River and shivered in 
the blizzards of Cariboo ; it was the same spirit that went up 
against the false hope of Panamint, and wandered helplessly 
across the hot sands of Lower California. 

" So it will be this time ; so it has ever been from the going 
out of Ishmael ; and so it will ever be until men cease to care 
for gold — subduing the love of riches, which the wise man has 
said is the root of evil. 



126 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

" Of course, the effort to deter these men from hazarding 
their lives and risking their fortunes in the Arctic is merely 
perfunctory. Even those who are advising that the wolf of 
Unalaska be permitted to howl undisturbed do not expect that 
the beast will long enjoy that privilege. 

Survival of the Fittest. 

" The weaklings may perish, as the advisory board of editors 
predicts, but the strength, the bone and sinew and the brawn of 
this movement will pull through, barring the accident that the 
litany refers to as * battle, murder and sudden death.' 

" These are of the stuff that builds commonwealths and per- 
petuates races of men. These are of the lineage that followed 
the Vikings ; the ancestors of these conquered with William 
and crossed the storm-lashed Atlantic to subdue a wilderness 
and found an empire. 

" These are the kind of men they want, whether they return 
from the Yukon burdened with wealth or as poor as they went. 
There's good leather in the stock that will come out of that 
frozen desolation, and it will work up into excellent material in 
a land where energy compels prosperity, and industry is rewarded 
with contentment. 

" Suppose it is true that hardships must be endured in this 
quest? Are they any more disheartening than those which the 
poor man faces in the overcrowded cities ? 

" Let it be conceded that the climate is rigorous. The winters 
of Minnesota are almost as severe, and the thermometer often 
registers as low in Quebec and the northern cities of Europe. 

" The climate of Alaska may be deadly at certain seasons of 
the year if the inhabitant exposes himself to its clemency, but 
the mortality resulting from such foolishness will not, under the 
most favorable circumstances, equal the record of the recent 



STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 127 

" hot spell " in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and throughout 
the Middle West. 

"As for starvation, there is less danger of that unhappy con- 
summation in a mining camp than there is in the most opulent 
' centre of civilization.' 

Makes Light of Journey. 

" The distance and the difficulty of reaching the mines of 
Alaska have been urged as an obstacle to be seriously considered 
by those who contemplate this adventure. 

" As a matter of fact, it is a less arduous journey from New 
York to Dawson City than from Sandy Hook to Johannesburg. 
Steamers comfortably fitted are plying between San Francisco and 
St. Michael's, at the mouth of the Yukon, and thence to Klondike. 

" The voyage is long, true, and somewhat expensive ; but, 
aside from these natural consequences of a trip to the Arctic, 
there is no valid reason why anyone who wishes to go there 
should be discouraged. 

" As for the tedium of the voyage, that can be endured in 
anticipation of the varied excitement that awaits the traveler at 
the end of his journey, and the expense that may attend the trip 
must be hopefully borne in the certainty of a manifold return 
when the industry and ability of the adventurer is put to the 
test in the land of the long twilight. 

" The most encouraging information that has come out of the 
north with the homing millionaires is the assertion that a miner 
in Alaska does not need to know anything about mining. If all 
accounts are accurate, in fact, the less a man knows about ' for- 
mations,' ' strata,' * deposits,' or ' dips, spurs, and angles/ the 
more likely he will be to strike it rich." 

"It is the tenderfoot who finds the plethoric ' pockets ' of the 
Klondike placers. As soon as he has been in the country long 



128 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 

enough to think he knows all about it, his 'luck' forsakes him 
and it is time for him to come home. The Hip' of a Freiberg 
expert on the Yukon isn't worth the icicles on his Vandyke 
Touting on the sixty-fourth degree of north latitude is not as 
absolute as it is at Ingleside. 

" A great many people are encouraged to believe that the 
stories of hardships and privation in the diggings are exaggerated 
because several women have weathered an Arctic winter — some 
of them have lived for two and three years in Circle City and St. 
Michael's. But this is no criterion of a possible mildness of cli- 
mate in that region. 

" Last season a woman old enough to admit her age climbed 
Mount Shasta, and, within a thousand feet of the apex, was com- 
pelled to shame the young men of the party into renewed exer- 
tion by guying them on their lack of pluck and endurance. The 
circumstance that women can withstand the rigor of the Arctic 
is no evidence that a man would not succumb to it, for it is a 
physiological fact that women may display a more commendable 
fortitude under stress than her masculine congener. 



CHAPTER IV. 

How To Get There. 

Main Routes to the Klondike — By Water and Land — Voyage via St. Michael's 
— Trip Up the Yukon — Choice of Trails via Juneau and Dyea — In by 
Chilkoot Pass— Over the Chilkat— The White Pass Route— Lieutenant 
Schwatka's Trail via Taku — By Way of Fort Wrangel and Lake Teslin 
— Railroads Suggested — The "Back Door" Route — Up the Copper 
River — By Moose Factory and Chesterfield Inlet — Other Trails — Tele- 
graph and Telephone — Postal Service — Outfits for Miners — List of 
Necessaries. 

THOUGH in a sense all roads lead to the Klondike, the 
gold-seeker does not become especially interested in a 
choice of routes until he reaches the Pacific seaboard. 
Then, whether he be at San Frascisco, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma 
or Victoria, the problem of "how to get there" becomes an 
engrossing one. Time, money and danger and the season of 
the year must all be considered, and the question is too often 
more perplexing than the unposted traveler can successfully 
grapple alone and hope to get the best solution. At the present 
time, in addition to the established routes, there are dozens of 
projected transportation schemes in the air, all possible to 
develop into untility on short notice. The wise argonaut, 
then, when settling upon his itinerary, will consult the latest 
sources of information — railroad and steamship literature and 
the folders and guides of land transportation concerns — and 
make up his mind accordingly. 

Two Main Routes. 

In a general way there are two main routes into the gold fields 
— the one entirely by water, via St. Michael's and the Yukon ; 
9 129 



130 HOW TO GET THERE. 

the other by water and land, via steamer to Fort Wrangel or 
Juneau, and then over the passes and down the rivers to Daw- 
son City. 

The former is only available during the " open " season, for 
the Yukon River, throughout the greater portion of its course, 
is closed by ice from September to May. When the river is 
open, however, this route, though the longest in point of time and 
distance, has certain advantages, especially in the line of comforts, 
for it avoids the hazards of the mountain passes and the perils 
of the inland rapids, as well as the arduous labor of the 
portages as yet inseparable from the overland routes ; and the 
traveler is reasonably sure of three " square " meals daily and a 
warm, dry bed at night. To people who have money and 
reasonable leisure, and who are not used to roughing it, these 
are advantages not to be lightly foregone. 

On The Overland. 

The latter, the overland route, is shorter in time and distance, 
but more laborious, and, if the traveler has much of an outfit, 
and the " boom " prices for " packing " keep up, not less 
expensive than the water way. It has the somewhat dubious 
advantage, as things are now, of being measurably " open " all 
the year round. But to those who know what a mountain 
pass in Arctic weather means — rain, snow, hail, mud, ice, 
glaciers, fords, upsets, wrecks, perilous days of Sisyphean 
toil and deadly nights in sodden clothing on frosty beds — there 
will easily be apparent the dark side of the overland route. By 
St. Michael's and the Yukon, the traveler will find most things 
done for him ; by the mountain passes and the upper rivers he 
will have to do most things for himself and the " tenderfoot " is 
apt to find his troubles multiply as he presses forward, till only 
the most stalwart and the stoutest hearted will get through to 



HOW TO GET THERE. 131 

the modern Ophir with heart or health to seek the fortunes 
hidden in the gravel. 

There is still another overland route than those via Juneau, 
Dyea, or Wrangel. It is termed expressively the " back-door" 
route or "inside track," and is simply the old Hudson Bay trunk 
line to the North. It goes from Calgary, in Alberta, by railroad, 
stage or wagon, and canon to Fort Macpherson at the mouth of 
the Mackenzie River, and then by the Peel River, leading south- 
ward to the gold fields. 

The time via St. Michael's is from thirty- five to sixty days in 
the summer season ; via Juneau, Dyea or Wrangel, from sixty 
days upward according to the season ; by the "back door" route 
from sixty to ninety days. 

Sailing to St. Michael's. 

St. Michael's may be reached by the steamers of any of the 
great commercial companies from San Francisco or Seattle, 
though up to the present time the bulk of the transportation 
business has been in the hands of the North American and the 
Alaska companies, the old-time rivals for the trade of the Yukon 
country. The former owns the stores along the Yukon River, 
and has been a practical monopoly except where it has come in 
contact with the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company. 

Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Archipelago, is the first port 
made on he outward trip to St. Michael's. Here the company 
owning the sealing privilege on the Pribyloff Islands has a coal- 
ing and supply station. It is 1800 miles on the way to the gold 
fields. Then away to the north, 800 miles through Behring Sea 
and past the seal islands to St. Michael's. The journey has so 
far been a pleasant one, unless the weather has been stormy. 
The one great peril of this route lies in that portion of the sea 
known as "the Boneyard of the Pacific," from the vast number 



132 HOW TO GET THERE. 

of ships which have gone down beneath its treacherous surface, 
and which is still one of the most dangerous spots known to 
northern navigators. This once passed, the other nazards of the 
long voyage can happily be made light of. 

On St. Michael's Island. 

St. Michael's, on the island of the same name, near the mouth 
of the Yukon, used to be a Russian fortification, and some of the 
old Russian buildings are still standing ; but for many years it 
has been the transfer and forwarding point for all goods going 
into or coming out of the interior. Both the commercial com- 
panies doing business on the river have warehouses here. During 
the two or three months of open navigation it is a place of con- 
siderable activity. Then communication is cut off, and it goes 
into the long, uneventful night of winter. 

The inhabitants of St. Michael's are the white resident employes 
of the companies, the collector of customs, several missionaries, 
and a number of traders. There are several hundred Eskimos 
on the island. The surface of the country immediately sur- 
rounding St. Michael's is gently rolling, and in summer it is 
covered with a great growth of grass, having more the appear- 
ance of Nebraska prairies than of an Arctic region. A series of 
six or seven low, cone-shaped hills across the shallow estuary 
are extinct volcanoes. In all the landscape there is no timber, 
nor are there trees anywhere near Behring Sea. 

At St. Michael's passengers and freight are transferred from 
the ocean liners to the river steamers. These run down the 
coast sixty miles to the north mouth of the great Yukon, a river 
larger than the Mississippi and navigable for boats of light draught 
for 2300 miles above its mouth, and there begins the long journey 
up stream to Dawson City and the golden placers. 

The source of the Yukon is in the Rocky Mountains and in British 



fl ;-. *^~ 



h 7* 




■ 



3#l i* 



>-'V: .- ' "'* -i_. "^-- ; - ■.. ': . 




HOW TO GET THERE. 133 

territory, at a point northeast of Sitka. The river drains prac- 
tically the same territory in its headwaters as the Stickine, Peace, 
Columbia and Frazer rivers, all well known for many years to 
treasure-hunters because of the great placers in their valleys. It 
was natural, therefore, to expect that gold would be found along 
the main channel of the Yukon or some of its tributaries. Ex- 
plorers were sent out from two bases. One set went up the river 
from its mouth, traversing the whole of Alaska from the west to 
east. 

Fine gold dust, in small quantities, was found at the mouth of 
the Porcupine River, a stream that joins the Yukon about ioo 
miles west of the boundary, and also near the mouth of Forty- 
Mile Creek, most of whose course lies in Alaska, but which 
crosses into British territory before emptying into the big river. 
Fort Cudahy is situated here, and Circle City, where there were 
other mining camps, is about fifty miles further west. These 
places are about 800 or 900 miles from the sea, if one travels by 
steamboat, and in the winter are completely cut off from the outer 
world. The discoveries above the Porcupine are the cause of the 
present rush of gold hunters — they are the richest placers in the 

world. 

Stop at Fort Yukon. 

The first point of more than passing importance on the journey 
up the river is Fort Yukon, a misnomer as to the " Fort," as is 
the case with all the stations on the lower river. As stations in 
the wilderness, most trading posts were fortified after a fashion 
in the early days, and this custom led to dignifying them by the 
term " fort." Fort Yukon was established by Robert Bell as a 
post of the Hudson Bay Company, he assuming that it was in 
Canadian territory. He made a mistake of 300 miles, measured 
by the river. Hudson Bay Company held the post until it was 
warned away by an American officer. 



134 HOW TO GET THERE. 

Here the argonaut finds himself fairly under the Arctic circle. 
In June and July he will see the sun twenty-four hours without 
a break, and all along the river at this time he can read a paper 
at any time of day or night without a lamp. 

Above Fort Yukon is the once important town of Circle City, 
formerly a mail station and a thriving post, but now practically 
depopulated by the stampede to the Klondike gold fields, higher 
up the stream. Circle City stands on a dead-level plain, twenty 
feet higher than the river at the ordinary stage of water. In the 
distant background is a low range of purple hills, which marks 
the dividing line between the Birch Creek district and the river. 
On the opposite side from the town the river runs away into space, 
with no very well defined shore line. 

It is a town of log huts, square and low, with wide projecting 
eaves and dirt roofs. Two men would get out the logs, build 
the cabin and " chink " it with the abundant moss in two weeks ; 
and before the Klondike fever such a house would rent for fif- 
teen dollars a month (in gold dust) or sell for $500. But the 
inhabitants have fled and most of the cabins are empty. From 
the present outlook hardly a dozen white persons, and perhaps 
a dozen Indians, will be left in the town during the coming 
winter. In April it had 1 500 white residents. It also had dogs, 
unlimited quantities of them, worse pests than mosquitos, but 
the call for dogs in "packing" miners' outfits over the south- 
eastern passes materially reduced the supply. A good dog is 
worth $100 in dust in Circle City. 

Gold on Birch Creek Claim. 

The rich discoveries of gold on Mammoth and Mastodon 
Creeks and many gulches which terminate in these creeks all 
tributaries of Birch Creek, "just over the divide," gave Circle 
City its first boom. Many wise men among the miners prophesy 



HOW TO GET THERE. 135 

that when the surrounding country is carefully prospected, its 

diggings will be found equal to the Klondike, and Circle City 

will again become a formidable rival of Dawson City. 

At Forty-Mile, or Fort Cudahy, across the boundary line in 

the British territory, the next important stop, some gold was 

found by the expedition mentioned heretofore. This place was 

named for John Cudahy, of Chicago, of the North American 

Transportation and Trading Company, and was for years the 

company's headquarters on the upper river. It contains about 

200 log cabins of the prevailing Yukon style — square, low, flat, 

and dirt-roofed — the companies offices, a few stores and saloons, 

and a hotel or two. Whiskey is worth ten dollars a quart, or 

fifty cents a drink, and half a dollar will buy three loaves of 

Yukon bread. 

Arrive At Dawson City. 

Passing Fort Reliance, the next stop is Dawson City, the 
metropolis of the gold fields, the Mecca of the '97er, the thres- 
hold of the Klondike treasure house. This new town and trad- 
ing post, though barely six months old, is already the busiest 
town on the river. " Old Joe " Ladue, as he is locally and 
unappropriately named, for he is not old at all, the owner of the 
town site, was being kept busy selling town lots at $5000 each 
when he made up his mind last summer to run back to New 
York and claim for his bride the sweetheart who had been wait- 
ing for him to " make a stake " under the Midnight Sun. 

There were said to be 3000 people in Dawson City in July 
and that number has been greatly increased since by the influx 
of men with the gold fever who had had prescribed " Klondike 
refrigeration" as a remedy for the almost hopeless malady, 
Dawson City will probably have to winter 12,000 to 16,000 
people, and there has been general fear that there would be great 
suffering there this winter in consequence of lack of supplies and 



136 HOW TO GET THERE. 

shelter for the great rush of unprepared prospectors. And 
winter at Dawson City begins in September. However, strenu- 
ous effort was made up to the last moment by the commercial 
companies to get. in provisions against a possible famine, and as 
many of the later argonauts carried in fairly good and liberal 
outfits, it is hoped the long season of cold may pass without 
general disaster. 

A miner who came in on one of the late steamers, described 
Dawson City as wild with speculation. He said : 

''Speculation is already the ruling idea. A purchaser inspects 
a claim that he thinks he would like to buy. He offers just 
what he thinks it is worth. There is no skirmishing over 
figures ; the owner accepts or refuses, and that is the end of it. 
With this claim goes the season's work. By that I mean the 
great pile of earth that may contain thousands or may not be 
worth the expense necessary to run it through the sluice. That 
is a chance one must take, however, and few have lost anything 
by it this season. 

" It may be said with absolute truth that Dawson City is one 
of the most moral towns of its kind in the world. There is 
little or no quarreling, and no brawls of any kind, though there 
is considerable drinking and gambling. Every man carries a 
pistol if he wishes to, yet few do, and it is a rare occurrence 
when one is displayed. 

Around The Gaming Table. 

" The principal sport with the 1 mining men is found around 
the gambling table. There they gather after nightfall and play 
until late hours in the morning. They have some big games, too, 
it sometimes costing as much as fifty dollars to draw a card. A 
game of $2000 as the stakes is an ordinary event. But with all 
that, there has not been any decided trouble. If a man is fussy 



138 HOW TO GET. THERE. 

and quarrelsome, he is quietly told to get out of the game, and 
that is the end of it. 

" Many people have an idea that Dawson City is completely 
isolated, and can communicate with the outside world only once 
every twelve months. That is a mistake. Circle City, only a few 
miles away, has a mail once each month, and there we have our 
mail addressed. It is true, the cost is pretty high — a dollar a let- 
ter and two dollars for paper — yet by that expenditure of money 
we are able to keep in direct communication with our friends on 
the outside. 

[The Canadian authorities have since established a post-office 
a't Dawson City, with regular service. — Ed.] 

In the way of public institutions, our camp is at present with- 
out any, but by the next season we will have a church, a music 
hall, school-house and hospital. This last institution will be 
under the direct control of the Sisters of Mercy, who have 
already been stationed for a long time at Circle City and Forty- 
Mile Camp." 

Mines Not At Dawson. 

The general impression that the mines are at Dawson City is 
erroneous. They are twelve to fifteen miles up the Klondike 
River, and are easily reached by poling up the stream in summer 
or sledding over its frozen surface in winter. 

Dawson City is under the British Government, and its laws 
are enforced by the famous mounted police. 

Inspector Strickland, of the Canadian mounted police, who 
came down from Alaska on the Portland, said : 

" When I left Dawson City there were 800 claims staked out. 
We can safely say that there was about $1,500,000 in gold 
mined last winter. The wages in the mines were fifteen dollars 
a day, and the saw mill paid laborers ten dollars a day. 

"The claims now staked out will afford employment to about 



HOW TO GET THERE. 139 

5000 men, I believe. If a man is strong, healthy and wants 
work he can find employment at good wages. Several men 
worked on an interest, or what is termed a " lay," and during 
the winter realized $5000 to $10,000 each. The mines are 
from thirty-five to 1 00 miles from the Alaska boundary." 

Inspector Strickland paid the miners at Dawson City a com- 
pliment, saying " they do not act like people who have suddenly 
jumped from poverty to comparative wealth. They are very 
level headed. They go to the best hotels and live on the fat of 
the land, but they do not throw money away, and no one starts 
in to paint the town red." 

Price List at Dawson. 

He gave the following price list as a sample of the cost of living 
in Dawson City : Flour, $ 1 2 per hundredweight. Following are 
prices per pound: Moose ham, $1 ; caribou meat, 65 cents; 
beans, 10 cents; rice, 25 cents; sugar, 25 cents; bacon, 40 
cents; potatoes, 25 cents; turnips, 15 cents; coffee, 50 cents; 
dried fruits, 3 5 cents ; tea, $ 1 ; tobacco, $1.50; butter, a roll, $1.50; 
eggs, a dozen, $1.50; salmon, each, $1 to $1.50; canned fruits, 
50 cents ; canned meats, 75 cents ; liquors, per drink, 50 cents ; 
shovels, $2.50; picks, $5 ; coal oil, per gallon, $1 ; overalls, 
$1.50; underwear, per suit, $5 to $7.50; shoes, $5; rubber 
boots, $10 to $15. 

The latest reports are that these figures are still maintained, 
despite the great amount of supplies brought in by the commer- 
cial companies, and it is expected they will go higher rather than 
lower before spring comes around again. 

Whisky is fifty cents a drink, and some of the saloons are said 
to be making $6000 to $8000 a day. There is some gambling, 
though not of a bloodthirsty kind, and chips are commonly $500 
a " stack." 



140 HOW TO GET THERE. 

Should the argonaut decide to go in by the Juneau and Dyea, 
or ,l mountain" routes, he will find the trail by Chilkoot Pass the 
one most talked of, and will probably this fall decide to try his 
fortunes by that way, though the spring and perhaps the winter 
even may find the Chilkat, the Taku and the White Pass routes, 
or even the Lake Teslin trail, becoming favorites. 

Right here the gold-hunter, having fixed on his route, needs 
to make very sure of one other thing — his " outfit." When 
he leaves Dyea or Juneau he leaves civilization and all its adjuncts 
of stores and traders behind him. From Dyea to Dawson he 
must depend on his outfit for practically everything he has to 
eat, drink and wear and for every tool and appliance with which 
to build or repair any article needed for the long journey by trail 
and stream, 700 miles, to Dawson. 

Via Chilkoot Pass. 

If the " outfit " is all right, the prospector engages Indians at 
Dyea to pack his goods in a dugout and tow them to the head 
of canoe navigation on the Dyea River which is about six miles. 
If possible the Indians should be hired to pack the goods over 
the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Linderman, about twenty-two or 
twenty-three miles. The old rate for this work was from five to 
sixteen cents a pound, but the great stampede of prospectors has 
caused the price to rise to twenty-one and even twenty-two cents, 
and even at that almost prohibitive figure it is often impossible 
for prospectors to hire native carriers, and as a result they have 
to pack their outfits over themselves. A Chilkoot Indian will 
carry from 250 to 300 pounds over the pass, but even the 
strongest white man can " tote " little more than 100 pounds, 
and consequently when the Indians fail him, has to make " double 
trips," that is, take a pack a mile or two, cache it and return for 
another one, and keep this tedious and heart burning labor up 



HOW TO GET THERE. 141 

until the last article has been wearily dropped on the shores of 
Lake Linderman. 

Many pack horses have been taken to Dyea for use on the 
Chilkoot Pass trail, and dogs are also to be experimented with 
this winter in hauling supplies. 

From the head of canoe navigation a well-defined trail leads 
to the canon at the summit. The first day's camp is made at the 
entrance to the canon ; the next day's camp is well along in that 
formidable pass at a natural curiosity known as the " Stone 
House," a much frequented camping ground for packers. The 
place affords good shelter in stormy weather and, as it is very 
frequently impossible to cross the Divide on stormy days, pack- 
ers have here a good place to wait for fair weather before attempt- 
ing the fearful toil of the ascent. 

An early start is necessary in crossing the Divide, the great 
Peraier Glacier, for it is urgent that the march should be made 
in one day in order to camp three or four miles beyond the 
Divide, where there are sticks and moss for a fire. 

Passing the Divide. 

Dr. E. O. Crewe describes the " passing " in these graphic 
words : 

" Having arrived at the foot of the now almost perpendicular 
mountain of ice and half thawed snow, we struggle upwards, some- 
times up to our knees in slush, sometimes clinging with hands and 
feet to the slippery mountain. Zigzagging from one side to the 
other until about half way up the ascent we drop our packs and 
survey the remainder of our journey up the glacier. On our left 
hand further progress is impossible ; a perpendicular wall of deep 
blue ice towers up a thousand feet above the actual pass ; on our 
right, we notice a pile of broken rocks that have crumbled from 
the cliff that forms the right hand side of the canon. Towards 



142 HOW TO GET THERE. 

these rocks we slowly pick our way, over which we slowly wend 
towards the base of the the cliff, and, having gained this com- 
paratively comfortable foothold, our progress is quite easy and 
fairly rapid. Ever keeping along the base of the cliff, ever get- 
ting nearer the crest of the ridge, we have little difficulty in 
managing our somewhat bulky pack, and almost before we are 
aware of it we have crossed the Divide and are over the most 
laborious part of our journey. 

Off For Lake Linderman. 

" Of course, if more than one trip is necessary the assent will 
consume much more time. One should easily make the journey 
from Dyea to Lake Linderman in three days with an ordinary 
pack if ' double tripping ' is unnecessary. After resting awhile 
on the summit of Chilkoot Pass, admiring the magnificent 
grandeur of the scene we begin our decent to the lake ; turning 
a little towards the left after coming over the divide we follow 
the trend of the hills which lead us down towards the North 
and we are very soon able to see Crater Lake (the actual source 
of the Yukon). Skirting the right hand shore of this lake, we 
soon find ourselves in a well defined ravine, with a well worn 
trail running down the right hand side of the little stream that 
finds its way from Crater Lake and empties into Lake Linder- 
man. As soon as we find a convenient place to pitch our tent, 
we make ready for camping, and thoroughly enjoy a hearty meal 
followed by a well-earned refreshing sleep. The following morn- 
ing, as early as possible, we break camp and start with our pack 
toward Lake Linderman. A few hours of easy walking will 
bring us to the lake, where we must at once break camp and 
prepare to go the balance of the way by water." 

The next thing, after getting safely over the pass, is to build a 
boat. Four men who are handy with tools can take a standing 



HOW TO GET THERE. 143 

spruce, saw out lumber and build a boat large enough to carry 
them and their 4000 pounds of provisions all in a week. It 
should be a good, staunch boat, for there are storms to be en- 
countered on the lakes, and rapids, moreover, that would shake 
a frail craft to pieces. The boat should have a sail that could be 
raised and lowered conveniently. 

Some enterprising men have built a saw mill on the shores of 
Lake Linderman, and sell boats or lumber. A boat large enough 
for four men and their outfits costs $75. Lumber is worth $100 
a 1000 feet, and 500 feet is enough for a boat. 

From the end of navigation on Lake Linderman a trail leads 
over to Lake Bennett, making a portage of a mile and a half. 
There is a river between the lakes, but the rapids are so danger- 
ous none but the most fool-hardy attempt to run them, and many 
lives and a great amount of property have been lost in the reck- 
less ventures. Some gold-hunters who go in by Chilkoot Pass 
make a raft at Lake Linderman, sail it down to the portage and 
abandon it there, and carry their goods to Lake Bennett, where 
there is excellent timber for boat building. 

Down Lake Bennett. 

With boat built one starts from the head of Lake Bennett on 
the last stage of the trip — a sail of 600 miles down stream (not 
counting lakes) to Dawson City, at the mouth of the Klondike. 
With fair weather, at the evening of the second day, one reaches 
Miles canon, the beginning of the worst piece of water on the 
trip. The voyager has passed through Lake Bennett and Takish 
and Marsh lakes. At the head of Miles canon begins three 
miles of indiscribably rough water, which terminate in White 
Horse Rapids. 

During the rush of gold-hunters it is probable there will be 
men at Miles canon who will make a business of taking boats 



144 HOW TO GET THERE. 

through the rapids, and unless one is an experienced river man 
it is economy to pay a few dollars for such service, rather than 
to take the greater chances of losing an outfit or even a life, for 
many have been drowned at this passage. Probably ten per 
cent, of the men who attempt the rapids are drowned. 

Even lowering an empty boat through the rapids, with a rope 
fastened to each end of it, very often results in the loss of the 
boat, which is at this point of our journey exceedingly valuable. 

In Miles Canon. 

Miles Canon, which is also called Grand Canon, is the first 
dangerous water that the navigator encounters. Although this 
section of the river has a normal width of more than 200 yards, 
it is confined for a distance of three-quarters of a mile to a space 
hardly fifty feet across, with perpendicular walls of red volcanic 
rock. This canon is broken in one place — about midway — by 
a circular enlargement of the channel, which causes a whirlpool 
of wonderful suction on each side of the river. 

After the rapids comes Lake LaBarge, a beautiful sheet of 
water thirty-five miles long, and in this connection a suggestion 
is desirable. Near the foot of the lake, on the left side, is a 
creek coming in which marks a good game country. A year 
ago, and in previous seasons, moose, were plentiful there and in 
the rugged mountains near the head of the lake there always 
have been good hunting grounds for mountain sheep. A delay 
of a week either in this locality or almost any of the small 
streams that flow into the succeeding 200 miles of river, for the 
purpose of laying in a good supply of fresh meat, is worth con- 
sidering. Moose meat that can be preserved until cold weather 
sets in will sell for a fancy price. 

There is another suggestion to consider before arriving at 
Sixty-mile. All along that part of the river are many timbered 



HOW TO GET THERE. 145 

islands, covered with tall, straight spruce. With such an influx 
of prospectors as is expected at Dawson City before winter 
begins, building logs will be in great demand. Cabin logs ten 
inches in diameter and twenty feet long sold at Circle City last 
year, in raft, at three dollars each. With an increased demand, 
and with better mines, the prices at Dawson City may be much 
higher. Four men can handle easily a raft of 500 or 600 such 
logs. Getting them out would be a matter of only a week or 
two. 

From Lake LaBarge the journey is through Thirty-mile River, 
the Lewis River, 150 miles to Five-Finger Rapids, thence to the 
Yukon at Fort Selkirk and then down stream 250 miles to Daw- 
son City. 

Gold in Hootalinqua. 

Within a few hours' run below Lake LaBarge is the Hoota- 
linqua River, which drains Teslin Lake, the largest body of 
water in the Yukon basin. This river has long been a locality 
of great interest to prospectors because of the wide distribution 
of gold in its bars and tributaries. The metal is found every- 
where on the whole length of the stream, but seems rather elu- 
sive when it comes to the test of actual mining. It has been 
prospected and worked sporadically for fifteen years, and in all 
that time the only Hootalinqua gold of any consequence taken 
out was found on Lewis River, a few miles below the mouth of 
the former stream, at Sassiar bar, where something like $1 50,000 
was mined. It is deserted now for the better mines of the 
Alaskan side. 

Five-Finger Rapids is one of the two or three obstructions 
that interfere with the free navigation of the river. A ledge of 
rock lies directly across the stream with four or five openings in 
it that afford a scanty outlet for the congested current. The 
largest passage and the one commonly used is the one at the 
10 



146 HOW TO GET THERE. 

right shore. There is a considerable fall, but the water is not 
badly broken, the gateway being succeeded by several big waves, 
over which a boat glides with great rapidity, but with a smooth 
and even motion. Shooting this rapid is an exhilerating expe- 
rience, but with careful management is not considered dangerous. 

A few miles above Five-Finger Rapids is George Mc- 
Cormick's old Indian trading-post. This is now abandoned by 
the "venerable" George ; he was the first man on the Klondike. 
A mile or so beyond McCormick's trading-post, (which by the 
way is very poorly stocked with anything, except Indian trad- 
ing articles), on the right-hand side of the river, before turning 
to the Five-Finger Rapids, you see evidence of McCormick's 
shrewdness and enterprise. He has drifted a hole in the side of 
the mountain, and when prospectors last passed this point he 
was taking out good specimens of coal. 

Next below Five-Finger Rapids are the Rink Rapids, so 
named by Lieutenant Schwatka, because of their musical 
rhythm. To run the Rink is mere child's play. 

And now all the danger points in the Chilkoot Pass route 
are passed. It is clear sailing to Dawson City. 

Past Fort Selkirk. 

The first trading-post and settlement of white men to be 
encountered on the river is at Fort Selkirk, opposite the mouth 
of Pelly River. Thence, it is a little more than a day's run 
down to Sixty-Mile, and it takes less than a day to go from 
Sixty-Mile to Dawson City. 

Dr. Crewe says of Pelly River : 

" We will just run across the river and see how old man 
Harper is getting along at Fort Selkirk. He has been in the 
Yukon Valley, trading first with the Indians and then with the 
white men, ever since the Alaska Commercial Company estab- 



HOW TO GET THERE. 147 

lished trading-posts along the river. Before this time, I believe 
he was employed by the Hudson Bay Company as a post-trader 
at one of the northern stations. Wishing good-bye to our 
Selkirk friends, a quick uneventful run of 120 miles brings us 
to Stewart River. Gold was first discovered in the Yukon 
Valley on this river. The prospects for the future of Stewart 
River are as bright and hopeful as for any of the creeks that 
are known to contain gold." 

Colorado Miner's View. 

The words of a Colorado miner, who went in by the Chil- 
koot Pass in the early summer and wrote back of his experi- 
ences, are worth reading as a practical man's summing up of the 
case. He says : 

" I think that the difficulties and dangers of the Yukon trip 
have been much exaggerated. The cold up there is intense, but 
is dry and a man does not suffer from it as would be supposed. 
I spent one winter on the Yukon. The thermometer went down 
to seventy-five degrees below zero, but the coldest day I ever 
saw in my life was in Chicago last January. 

" The Chilkoot Pass is only 3000 feet high, and that isn't any 
height at all to a man used to mountains. With a good sleeping 
bag a man may sleep out of doors there all of the winter. In 
the interior there is very little snow. I did not find it over six 
inches deep. In the dark part of the year there is almost always 
enough of twilight to see by. 

" Of course, a man who would kick about a crumpled rose 
leaf on his couch would have a hard time in Alaska, but a man 
who is a man could get along all right up there." 

A company has been formed in Chicago which proposes to 
build four or six small steamers of light draft which will be 
launched in Lake Linderman, and will run in the chain of lakes, 



148 HOW TO GET THERE. 

the Lewis River and the upper Yukon River. The same com- 
pany will build tramways, after the pattern of those in use by the 
Hudson Bay Company over the old route from the North, to 
overcome the difficulty of transportation at portage points. 

The boats will go to their destination in parts, and will be put 
together on the waters of Lake Linderman. They will be pro- 
vided with all the comforts that make steamboat traveling enjoy- 
able, and will be of sufficent tonnage to carry a considerable 
amount of freight on each trip. 

With the proposed wagon road that the Dominion Government 
and the Canadian Pacific Railway are figuring on, it is thought 
there will be little trouble in reaching the gold fields, and those 
who are caught on the Klondike when the lakes and rivers are 
frozen over can get out by way of the northern route, which is 
through Edmonton. 

Over Chilkat Pass. 

The Chilkat trail leads over the Chilkat Pass and is about 
125 miles in length from the head of Chilkat Inlet to where it 
strikes the waters of Tahkeena River. This was the old trail 
used by the Indians to and from the interior, and leads all the 
way through to old Fort Selkirk by land. "Jack" Dalton has 
ased this trail at times in taking horses and live stock to the 
mines, portaging to the Tahkeena, then by raft down that river 
to the Lewis, thus proving that the Tahkeena is navigable for a 
small stern wheel steamer for a distance of some seventy miles. 

For the last three years several California and English com- 
panies have been studying the lay of the land between Chilkat 
and Circle City, with a view to establishing a quicker and more 
practicable way of transportation to the rich gold fields along the 
Yukon. Goodall, Perkins & Co. have made a thorough investi- 
gation of the matter. Captain Charles M. Goodall said : 



HOW TO GET THERE. 149 

" The rich find in the Klondike district will probably result in 
some better means of transportation, though the roughness of 
the country and the limited open season will not justify anybody 
in building a railroad for any distance. Recently we sent several 
hundred sheep and cattle to Juneau, and from there to the head 
of navigation by the steamer Alki. Dalton, the man who dis- 
covered the trail across the country from Chilkat River to Fort 
Selkirk, is taking the live stock to the mines. His route lies 
from the head of navigation through Chilkat Pass and across a 
route which is over a prairie several miles to the Yukon River, 
near Fort Selkirk. At this time of year the prairie is clear, and 
bunch grass grows on it in abundance. 

" I believe this will ultimately be the popular route. People 
could go over it in wagons, as the prairie is level and the roads 
good. Stations could be established, as was done on the plains 
in I 849. It would be easy to go down the river in boats from 
where Dalton's trail strikes it to Dawson City and the other 
mining camps. 

" The plan to build a traction road over Chilkat Pass from Dyea, 
the head of navigation after leaving Juneau, to Lake Linder- 
man, is not a good business proposition. It has been talked of 
and the rest of the plan is to have steamers to ply from Lake 
Linderman through the other lakes to the Yukon. But to do 
this two portages would have to be made on account of the falls 
in the river, and these would be enormously expensive." 

By the White Pass. 

The White Pass is considered by many one of the best that 
cuts the mountains of the coast. It is at least 1000 feet lower 
than the Chilkoot and little higher than the Taku. It is reported 
timbered the entire length. Its salt water terminus is about 
eighty-five miles north of Juneau, and ocean steamers can run 



150 HOW TO GET THERE. 

up to the landing at all times, where there is a good town 
site, well protected from storms. The pass lies through a box 
canon surrounded by high granite peaks and is comparatively 
easy. The first seven miles from salt water lie up the bottom 
lands of the Skagway River through heavy timber. Then 
for about seven miles farther the way is over piles of boulders 
and moraines which would prove the most expensive part of the 
trail. This trail would not exceed thirty-two miles in length, 
and would strike Windy Arm of Tagish Lake or Taku Arm 
coming in farther up the lake. All of this part of the lake is 
well timbered and accessible to Lake Bennett and its connec- 
tions. White Pass could be used as a mail route any month in 

the year. 

Trail Open July 16th. 

The Alaska Searchlight publishes a letter from William Moore, 
at Fourteen-Mile Camp, Skagway, Alaska, stating that the White 
Pass pack trail to the summit of the pass was opened for travel 
July 1 6th. On reaching the summit the traveler steps upon al- 
most level country, the grade to the lakes being twenty feet to 
the mile. The distance from salt water to the Too-Chi Lake is 
thirty miles, and from salt water to the head of Lake Bennett, 
the distance is forty-five miles. Both routes from the summit 
are through rolling country, for the most part open, with plenty 
of grass for feeding stock, water and sufficient timber for all pur- 
poses. From salt water to the summit, stock and pack horses 
can be driven through easily. 

C. H. Wilkinson, on behalf of the British- Yukon Company, 
has made an offer to the Minister of the Interior to build a wagon 
road through the White Pass for $2000 a mile. The distance is 
about fifty miles. About eight miles of the road would be very 
difficult to build. It would take $7000 a mile, being all rock- 
excavation, to construct this eight miles. 



HOW TO GET THERE. 151 

At the rate the people are flocking into the new gold region 
of the Yukon country, something will have to be done soon to 
provide a way of getting provisions into the mining district. 

If this road were built Victoria could be reached from the 
Yukon district in about fourteen days. The Minister has taken 
the matter into consideration. 

Mr. Wilkinson is also authority for the statement that the 
company has completed arrangements for placing a fleet of be- 
tween ten and twenty steamers on the Yukon River in the spring, 
and will probably make an effort in the direction of a narrow 
guage railway over the pass. 

Survey for Railroad. 

George W. Garside, a well-known engineer, formerly in the 
employ of the Canadian Government, has recently completed the 
survey of sixty-two miles of railway running from Skagway Bay 
over the White Pass to Lake Tagish, and thence to the upper 
Hootalinqua River. He is employed by the British-American 
Transportation Company, said to be amply supplied with funds 
with which to complete the undertaking. It is said work will 
begin in the spring of 1898. The new route will be 100 miles 
longer than that at present followed by miners going into the 
Yukon basin overland from Dyea. 

The route surveyed leaves tide water at Skagway Bay, close to 
Dyea, and runs in a northerly direction over the summit by 
White's Pass, through which a trail has just been completed. 
The new trail is 1000 feet lower than Chilkat Pass, at which so 
much hardship is encountered by prospectors. The route will 
eliminate all the danger of the White Horse Rapids and Miles 
Canon, where now portages of from one to three miles are made, 
and where so many gold hunters have lost their all, in having- 
their supplies turned out of the boat into the water by the bowlders 



152 HOW TO GET THERE. 

The report of the engineers on the project has been hied. 
It endorses the plan as practical but costly. Skagway Bay has 
a fine natural harbor, and is good anchorage for vessels of any 
size. From the harbor the proposed railroad will follow the 
Skagway River to its head, which is near the summit of the pass. 

The grade is variable. The first four miles the ascent is 
gradual. The next seven miles of the route is difficult and even 
dangerous. In three more miles of easier grade the summit is 
reached. The descent to Tagish Lake, about twenty miles, is 
gradual and the total fall less than 400 feet. The surface of the 
lake is 2200 feet above the sea. 

Route by Taku Pass. 

A new route to the Klondike (and it must not be forgotten 
that " Klondike," as a destination, means anywhere in the great 
gold-lined Yukon Basin) has been proposed by Mrs. Frederick 
Schwatka, the widow of the great Northwestern Pathfinder. It 
is by way of the Taku Inlet, River and Pass. Lieutenant 
Schwatka discovered the pass and tried it. 

According to Mrs. Schwatka, who has spent much of her 
time in Alaska and who is familiar with a large part of the 
country, the Taku Pass will prove to be a bonanza to the first 
trading company that establishes a system of pack trains through 
it to Juneau, the base of supplies for the mining region. It is 
besides the easiest route for the miners themselves and a shal- 
low-draft steamer that could be brought to run on Taku River 
would leave only ninety miles of land to be crossed. 

Mrs. Schwatka spoke of the Taku route in these words : 

" Lieutenant Schwatka explored the Taku River and Pass 
several years ago. He tried to get the people of Juneau to es- 
tablish a pack train line through the pass, to connect with a 
steamboat on the inlet. That was before there was much travel 



HOW TO GET THERE. 153 

to Juneau, and the people of the thriving village did not believe 
it would pay them. Now it certainly would, but I have not seen 
a word about the pass in any of the newspapers, and there ap- 
pears to be almost no travel through it. 

" In fact, the pass contains an excellent railroad grade, and it 
would cost a comparatively small sum to build and equip a road. 
The current of the river is strong and there are frequent floods, 
but a light draught steamer would have no difficulty in ascending 
it and making connections with the road to Juneau. It would 
be an easy matter to get supplies from Juneau then. The 
Canadian Pacific comes so near to that country it seems as if it 
could profitably build a line through the pass and connect the 
two branches by steamer. 

" Lieutenant Schwatka made a map of the region, which I 
think I shall have published. He made the trip up the river by 
canoe and reported the current there very swift and strong. I 
am certain that the Taku route is the easiest for persons going 
from Juneau, however. 

" From Taku to Lake Teslin it is ninety miles over level 
prairies, and the country from Lake Teslin is an open valley. 
With the aid of pack horses the Taku route is by far preferable." 

Details of the Route. 

The Taku Pass route may be briefly described as beginning at 
Juneau, thence up the Taku River to its end, where the portage 
of ninety miles is made by pack to the Teslin or Aklene Lake, 
the route through which is northwesterly. Arriving at the 
farther end of the last mentioned waterway the trip is by heavy 
canoes along the Hootalinqua or Teslin River to Lewis River, 
which joins the Yukon at Fort Selkirk. From the latter place 
Dawson City and other mining places are reached by the 
Yukon. 



154 



HOW TO GET THERE. 



William A. Pratt, professor of electrical engineering at Dela- 
ware College, and P. I. Packard, of Wilmington, Del., are at the 
head of a party enroute to survey a line for a railroad to be 
built by an Eastern syndicate through Taku Pass to Lake 
Teslin. 

Another route, whose promoters say is the best highway to 





SCENE IN ALASKA NEAR THE COAST. 



the gold fields from the coast yet discovered, is by way of the 
Lake Teslin, or Aklena Lake trail, and starts in American terri- 
tory at Fort Wrangel. It leads up the Stickine River and Tele- 
graph Creek from Wrangel to Glenora, a distance of 1 26 miles. 
The Stickine is navigable for stern-wheel steamers of four or 



HOW TO GET THERE. 155 

five feet draught, and it is believed the channel of Telegraph 
Creek can easily be made ample for the same boats all the way 
to Glenora. The provincial government is at work improving 
the route. 

The only point of peril in the water part of this route will be 
in the rapids in the Stickine River, but the trouble here is 
handily overcome at present by making fast heavy lines to trees 
on the banks and warping the boat up or down the dangerous 
passages. 

From Glenora the route will traverse a newly-discovered pass 
and then straight across the smooth table land to Lake Teslin. 
Thence it is plain sailing down the Hootalinqua River, a tribu- 
tary of the Lewis, by the Lewis to Fort Selkirk and thence on 
the broad Yukon to Dawson City. 

Five-Finger Rapids. 

The only danger on this part of the route is the Five-Finger 
Rapids, where so many prospectors and so much property have 
been lost. The Canadian Government will appropriate a sum 
of money to blow out the dangerous rocks at this point and 
clear the river of dangerous obstructions. This route avoids 
White Horse Rapids and Miles Canon, the most dangerous spots 
in the river routes. The total distance to Dawson City via 
Telegraph Creek will be approximately 1780 miles. 

John C. Galbreath, for many years a resident of Telegraph 
Creek, has been directed by the British Columbia government to 
open this new route and $2000 will be expended on it immediately. 
Even now the trip to the gold fields, it is said, can be made with 
less danger and more quickly by this route than by any other. 
It is open usually until the middle of October and sometimes as 
late as November. 

It is also proposed to build a branch from Telegraph Creek to 



156 HOW TO GET THERE. 

Dease Lake, which connects with the upper waters of the Mac- 
kenzie River. 

The " back door" route, or " inside track " from civilization to 
the Klondike diggings, is the old Hudson Bay Company's " trunk 
line," and has been in use nearly a century. It is said to possess 
many advantages, except perhaps in the matter of distance, over 
any of the other land and water trails. 

Argonauts going in at the " back door " will go to Edmonton, 
in Alberta, 1772 miles from Chicago, via the Canadian Pacific 
Railroad, and thence by stage or wagon to Athabasca Landing. 
Edmonton is on the Saskatchewan River and the portage to the 
landing places the traveler on the banks of the great Athabasca 
River and at the head of a continuous waterway for canoe travel 
to Fort Macpherson, at the north mouth of the Mackenzie River, 
from which point the Peel River lies south to the gold regions. 
From Edmonton to Fort Macpherson is 1882 miles. 

Only Two Big Portages. 

There are only two portages of any size on the route — that 
from Edmonton to Athabasca Landing, over which there is a 
stage and wagon line, and at Smith Landing, sixteen miles, over 
which the Hudson Bay Company has a tramway. With the 
exception of five other portages of a few hundred yards there is 
a fine down-grade water route all the way. Wherever there is 
a lake or long stretch of deep water navigation, the Hudson Bay 
Company has small freight steamers which ply during the sum- 
mer months between the portage points. 

From Edmonton a party of three men with a canoe should 
reach Fort Macpherson within sixty days, provided they are 
strong and of some experience in that sort of travel. 

Experienced travelers recommend that the canoe be bought at 
home unless it is intended to hire Indians with large bark canoes 



HOW TO GET THERE. 157 

for the trip. Birch-bark canoes can be purchased large enough 
to carry three tons, but are said to be unreliable unless Indians 
are taken along to doctor them and keep them from getting 
water-logged. The Hudson Bay Company will contract to take 
freight northward on their steamers until the close of navigation. 
A recent letter from a missionary says the ice had only com- 
menced to run on September 30, 1896, in the Peel River, the 
waterway from Fort Macpherson to the gold fields. If winter 
comes on the traveler can change his canoe for sleds and dog 
trains. 

Advantages to Travelers. 

The great advantage claimed for the "back door" route is 
that it is an organized line of communication. Travelers need 
not carry any more food than will take them from one Hudson 
Bay post to the next, and there is abundance of fish and wild 
fowl along the route. They can also get assistance at the posts 
in case of sickness or accident. 

If lucky enough to make their " pile " in the Klondike, they 
can come back by the dog-sled route in the winter. There is 
one mail to Fort Macpherson in the winter. Dogs for teams 
can be bought at any of the Hudson Bay posts, which form a 
chain of roadhouses on the trip. 

Parties traveling alone will need no guides until they get near 
Fort Macpherson, the route from Edmonton being so well defined. 

It is estimated that a party of three could provide themselves 
with food for the canoe trip of two months for thirty-five dollars. 
Pork, tea, flour and baking powder would suffice. 

Parties should consist of three men, as that is the crew of a 
canoe. It will take 600 pounds of food to carry three men over 
the route. The paddling is all done down stream except when 
they turn south up Peel River, and sails should be taken, as there 
is often a favorable wind for days. There are large scows on the 



158 HOW TO GET THERE. 

line manned by ten men each, and known as " sturgeon heads." 
They are like canal boats, but are punted along, and are used by 
the Hudson Bay people for taking supplies to the forts. 

It is estimated $200 per man will be sufficient for expenses 
via this route, and that two months, and possibly six weeks, will 
be an ample estimate of time. 

Another all-Canadian route to the Klondike is proposed, to 
enable Eastern Canada to compete in transportation, traffic and 
trade with the Pacific coast. It includes a railway to Moose 
Factory, at the foot of James Bay, and a line of steamers thence 
to the western end of Chesterfield Inlet, a distance of 1300 miles. 
The rest of the journey would be mainly by the Mackenzie and 
Yukon rivers, and it is estimated that in summer it could be 
made in seven days from Toronto. Between Hudson Bay and 
the Yukon it is believed the only piece of railway it will be neces- 
sary to construct is 200 miles or so between the head of Chester- 
field Inlet and Great Slave Lake. 

Offers Fine Steamers. 

The late managing owner of a line of steamers on the great 
lakes has examined the reports as to the waterways through 
Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie and Yukon rivers, and 
offers to undertake to equip the route with a new style of steam- 
ers, which, while spacious and economical, would develop a 
reliable speed of twenty miles an hour in slack water. A model 
of an ice boat has been prepared for winter navigation of these 
waters. 

The plan for reaching Hudson Bay is the construction of a 
railway from Missanabie to Moose Factory, to be operated by 
electricity furnished by the water power of the Moose River. 

The proposed route to Hudson Bay is disputed by Quebec, 
which is desirous of securing the western connection for itself, 



HOW TO GET THERE. 159 

and having already constructed a railway to Lake St. John, to 
within 300 miles of James Bay, is ready, with a certain amount 
of Government aid, to extend it to Moose Factory by way of 
the valley of the Ashuamouchouan River. 

J. M. C. Lewis, a civil engineer, has proposed to the Interior 
Department, at Washington, a route from the mouth of the 
Copper River, by which he says the Klondike may be reached 
by a journey of a little over 300 miles from the coast, a great 
saving in distance over the other mountain routes. He says the 
trail could be opened at small expense. 

The route which he proposes will start inland from the mouth 
of the Copper River, near the Miles Glacier, twenty-five miles 
east of the entrance to Prince William Sound. He says the 
Copper River is navigable for small steamers for many miles 
beyond the mouth of its principal eastern tributary, called on 
the latest maps the Chillyna River, which is itself navigable for 
a considerable distance. From the head of navigation on the 
Chillyna, Mr. Lewis says, either a highway or a railroad could 
be constructed without great difficulty or very heavy grades, 
through what the natives call the " low pass," probably the 
Scoloi Pass. From the pass the road would follow the valley of 
the White River to the point where it empties into the Yukon, 
on the edge of the Klondike gold fields. 

"Uncle Sam's" Survey. 

" Uncle Sam " has had his eye on short routes to Alaska for 
sometime. In 1886 a bill w T as introduced in Congress " to facili- 
tate the settlement and develop the resources of the Territory 
of Alaska and to open an overland commercial route, between 
the United States, Asiatic Russia and Japan." 

The Interior Department referred the subject to Director 
Powell of the Geological Survey for a report, which was made 



160 HOW TO GET THERE. 

as comprehensive as the knowledge possessed by the survey of 
the topography of the country, through which the road would 
have to pass, would permit. 

In the beginning of his report Director Powell says : 

" Information on record bearing on the question does not indi- 
cate any greater obstacles to the construction of such a line 
than those already overcome in trans-continental railroad build- 
ing, and the construction of the proposed line must be pro- 
nounced feasible. 

" From the geographic knowledge available a tentative line 
may be indicated extending from the Northern Pacific Railroad 
in Montana northward to Behring Sea, about 2800 miles in 
length." 

This tentative line, divided into three grand divisions, is as 
follows : 

1 . From some point on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Mon- 
tana to the headwaters of the Peace River. 

2. From the headwaters of the Peace River to the headwaters 
of the Yukon. 

3. From the headwaters of the Yukon to some point on the 
shore of Behring Sea. 

Straight to Klondike. 

It will be observed that the proposed route would take the 
road right through the Klondike gold field. 

From Montana northward through British Columbia as far 
as the Peace River, Director Powell considered two routes, which 
he calls plains and valleys, respectively, their names indicating 
their character. His preference was for the valley route. 

First, it would have a decided advantage in distance. 

Second, it would afford easier grades. He admitted the pros- 
pect for local business over the two routes appeared to be in 



HOW TO GET THERE. 161 

favor of the plains route, " unless important mining districts 
should be developed on the other line." 

From the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Canadian Pacific 
Railroad by the valley route is about 325 miles, and to connect 
Southern Alaska indirectly with the railway system of the United 
States via the Canadian Pacific Railroad would require the con- 
struction of only 840 miles of line, which is exactly the distance 
from Baltimore to Chicago by-the Pennsylvania line. 

One of the most perplexing problems of transportation to 
which the gold craze gave rise, in the first months of the epidemic, 
was to find steamers for the sea voyage either to Juneau or St. 
Michael's. The regular transportation companies used all their 
own boats and all that they could hire, and even then were unable 
to accommodate all who wanted passage, and private enterprise 
undertook the hazardous trips in almost any old tub that would 
float long enough to get out of the harbor. 

The experiences of the season, however, and the demand for 
passage on the first boats to go North in 1898, which set in as 
early as the first week in August, set the steamship men hustling 
to be ready for the expected rush in the spring. 

More Steamers Next Spring. 

Manager C. H. Hamilton, of the North American Transporta- 
tion and Trading Company, announce that his company has let 
a contract to Cramps, the Philadelphia shipbuilders, for the con- 
struction cf two 2000-ton steel steamers. They will be the finest 
steamers on the Pacific coast, and will be used exclusively on the 
Seattle-St. Michael's run. They will have accommodations for 
200 first-class and 500 second-class passengers. 

The American Steel Barge Company, of West Superior, Wis- 
consin, arranged with a syndicate interested in the Alaskan gold 
fields to construct several small vessels on the whaleback plan to 
11 



162 HOW TO GET THERE. 

navigate the Yukon. Arrangements are being made to open the 
shipyards of the company at Everett, Washington, and the plant 
at West Superior may be used to get out some of these little 
ships. 

The whaleback steamer Everett, which carried the American 
contributions to the East Indian famine, one of the largest whale- 
back freighters afloat, will be remodeled to accommodate pas- 
sengers and put on the San Francisco-Alaska route, making 
regular trips to the Yukon with gold-seekers who prefer the 
water route to the diggings. 

Expert River Men. 

In preparation for the spring rush up the Yukon River, and 
over the divide with supplies, a Canadian firm has been hiring 
lumbermen and river men from the Ottawa region. There is 
every indication that by the opening of navigation on the upper 
Yukon there will be abundant work for expert river men in 
transporting supplies to the Klondike. 

A Seattle company has been organized to build a sea-going 
steamship, and also a light draft steamer for the river business 
between St. Michael's and Dawson City. 

The Puget Sound Tugboat Company will put a steamer on 
the Yukon in the spring to carry freight and passengers from 
St. Michael's to the Klondike. 

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company is arranging ro use all 
its available boats on the northern route to Juneau in 1898, and 
may decide to make several additions to its fleet. 

Both the North American and Alaska companies are adding 
to their facilities for taking care of traffic in the spring and 
expect to be fully equipped for the great rush of gold-hunters 
and supplies when the time comes. The North American has 
ordered several new ocean and river steamers. 



HOW TO GET THERE. 163 

Steamboat men in Seattle estimate that, beginning about the 
first of April, a large steamer can leave Puget's Sound' for Alaska 
daily with all the passenger and freight accommodations crowded. 

Several new steamer companies are already in the field and 
the promise has been made that next season will see a reduction 
in the rate of fare. But unless the reports received from the 
gold fields during the winter indicate that the richness of the 
placers has been exaggerated and that they give signs of peter- 
ing out, the rush to the mines in the spring will surpass anything 
the world has ever seen. 

Transportation companies assert that those who are waiting 
until spring to go North will be very much disappointed if they 
expect a reduction in fares. That some companies will be organ- 
ized to make trips at reduced rates there is no doubt, but the 
regular steamship lines say the fare will be the same. 

Secretary Hamilton, of the North American Transportation and 
Trading Company, spoke of the fares in the spring as follows : 

" In my opinion the fare to St. Michael's will not be less than 
$200 in the spring. Transportation facilities will be improved, 
but fares will not be less." 

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company officials were equally 
sure the fares would stay up. 

Will Pay To Come Back. 

The companies generally assert that in the early spring they 
will be carrying to the sound hundreds of passengers who have 
wintered in the vicinity of Dawson City. All will have money 
and will be in a position to pay the present fares, which 
are considered reasonable. The majority of the miners who 
stay during the coming winter will undoubtedly come out by 
way of St. Michael's. They will not care to undergo the hard- 
ships of the trip over the pass. 



164 HOW TO GET THERE. 

The first ship from New York to Juneau with gold-hunters 
and supplies sailed late in August, going around the Horn. 
The fare to Juneau was $175. Several other sailing vessels are 
expected to leave New York for Juneau with miners during the 
winter. 

A great demand for small boats arose on the Pacific Coast be- 
fore the season closed, the argonauts thinking to save time on 
the overland journey by taking their boats with them. Several 
styles of boats that could be shipped " knocked down " at once 
came to the front, and several firms began making specialties of 
these handy craft. One that will carry a ton costs about $18, 
and weighs about 200 pounds. It is taken apart with no pieces 
more than six or seven feet long and packed for shipping. The 
principal objection to these boats is that the Indians and packers 
dislike to contract to carry them over the mountains on account 
of their awkward shape. One builder has worked out a model 
for a galvanized iron boat that can be carried in sections fitting 
together like a "nest" of custard dishes, and can be put to- 
gether with small bolts. A canvas folding boat that would 
carry two tons would be available on the Yukon. A keel, mast 
and some additional bracing could be added after reaching the 

interior. 

Wagon Road to Yukon. 

The Canadian Pacific Railway and Dominion Government are 
conferring with a view to opening up a wagon road to the Yukon 
from Edmonton. Such a road is feasible, and would be only 
between 800 and 900 miles long, passing through a rich aurifer- 
ous country. The object is to give a short and safe road for 
prospectors and to make it possible to maintain winter commu- 
nication. 

A joint resolution was reported favorably for the United States 
Senate Committee on Territories on July 22d, authorizing the 



HOW TO GET THERE. 165 

construction ot toll roads in Alaska. The resolution authorizes 
the Secretary of the Interior to grant right of way 200 feet wide. 
Franchises are to be limited to twenty years. The rates of toll 
are to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. 

One of the features of the stampede to Klondike via Dyea 
has been the number of burros, cayuses, mules and horses taken 
up to sepve for packing over the Chilkoot, Chilkat and White 
Passes ! Hundreds have been sent through, and their owners in 
many cases had contracts in their pockets for all the freight they 
could expect to handle at from thirteen to nineteen cents a pound. 
Old mountaineers, however, think the horses, and especially the 
mules, will prove a failure as a venture, for their hoofs will cut 
up the road, which has been barely good enough for human feet, 
so far, and this, in such a moist climate as that of autumn in 
Southeastern Alaska, will soon make the trails impassable for 
beast or even, perhaps, for man. 

There are a few horses in the Yukon country, and one of the 
largest pack trains ever brought into Dawson City, Robert 
Krook, of Dawson City, says, was brought over the frozen 
river Yukon by thirteen horses and as many sleds all the way 
from Circle City. Feed, however, is expensive, and the horses 
are easily rendered useless. If water gets on the top of the ice 
and the horses or mules get wet feet, they are practically ruined 
for all time, as their hoofs split when the water freezes, crippling 
the animals. To avoid this, moccasins are used and have proved 
partially successful. 

Dogs for Burdens. 

Dogs are the choice beasts of burden on the overland routes 
during the long frozen season, and their points of merit have 
been recognized by a decided stiffening of prices in the canine 
market. Good dogs, are worth from $100 up, $200 for a fine 
brute not being an unusual price. There is not much danger of 



166 HOW TO GET THERE. 

the supply running far behind the demand, however, even at 
Dyea, for if there is anything Alaska is "long" on besides 
winters and mosquitos, it is dogs. 

Robert Krook says that Eskimo dogs will draw 200 pounds 
each on a sled, so that six dogs will draw a year's supplies for 
one man. He, however, puts in the proviso that the sleds 
should not have iron runners, because the snow sticks to the 
iron and increases the friction so much that the dogs cannot haul 
more than 100 pounds apiece. With brass runners this draw- 
back is obviated. 

Moccasins on Dogs. 

Sometimes the feet of the dogs get sore, and then the Indians 
fit moccasins on them ; as soon, however, as the tenderness is 
gone from their feet the dogs will bite and tear the moccasins 
off. In speaking of the dogs, Mr. Krook said that they need 
no lines to guide them, and are very intelligent, learning readily 
to obey a command to turn in any direction or to stop. They 
have to be watched closely, as they will attack and devour stores 
left in their way, especially bacon, which must be hung up out 
of their reach. At night, when camp is pitched the moment a 
blanket is thrown upon the ground they will run into it and 
curl up, neither cuffs nor kicks sufficing to budge them. They 
lie as close up to the men who own them as possible, and the 
miner cannot wrap himself up so close that they won't get under 
his blanket with him. They are almost human, too, in their 
disinclinations to get out in the morning. 

Where sleds cannot be used the dogs will carry fifty pounds 
apiece in saddlebags slung across their backs pannier fashion. 
Nature has fitted these dogs for their work, and so mastiffs and 
St. Bernards are not as serviceable. The two latter breeds can- 
not stand the intense cold so well, and, though at first they will 
draw the sleds cheerfully, their feet cannot resist the strain and 




167 



168 HOW TO GET THERE. 

begin to bleed so freely that the dogs are useless. The pads 
under the feet of the Eskimo dogs are of tougher skin. 

Reindeer are to be entered as rivals of the Esquimo dogs. 
Twenty sturdy bucks have been selected from the United States 
Government's reindeer herd at Teller's Station and will be taken 
to Circle City. The design is to materially decrease the cost of 
overland transportation in winter, for the benefit of the miner. 

Much care has been exercised in the selection of the herd, 
and not one of its members is less than four and one-half feet 
in height and seven feet in length. The minimum weight of 
these bucks is 250 pounds, but some of them are twenty-five to 
fifty pounds heavier than the lightest. All are vigorous, healthy 
and in good working condition. Their antlers, which curve 
gracefully backward, are about two and one-half feet in length. 
Their general color is a soft seal brown, shading into black on 
the legs, which are covered with short, glossy hair, to which the 
snow does not adhere. 

A prime advantage of the reindeer over the dog is the fact 

that he paws away the snow and secures his own food, instead 

of having to add his rations to the weight of his burden. Many 

a pioneer prospector, traveling by dog team, has been placed in 

a position in which his dogs have become useless from lack of 

provisions. Had these unfortunate pilgrims been provided with 

reindeer teams, such an emergency would not, in all probability, 

have arisen ; and in case of threatened starvation the traveler's 

means of transportation would have furnished him with a liberal 

quantity of meat. 

Bicycles for Yukon. 

One of the most novel and absurd of all the schemes of trans- 
portation fostered by the stampede to the Yukon diggings is the 
Klondike bicycle, theoretically adapted to carry one man and 500 
pounds of outfit, but practically useless because there is not a 



HOW TO GET THERE. 169 

piece of the wheelmen's "good roads" in the territory. Yet 
some " tenderfeet " have been seen in Seattle armed and equipped 
with just that thing. But it is to be hoped they were not typical 
" tenderfeet." 

The Klondike is promised close communication with the world 
in a short time. The Alaska Telegraph and Telephone Company 
has been incorporated in San Francisco to construct a telegraph 
line from Juneau and Dyea to Dawson and Circle City. The 
capital stock is $100,000. The work of construction is to be 
pushed and it is hoped the line will be in working order before 
winter. The estimated length is 10,000 miles. 

The line will be a novelty, as no poles will be used except in 
crossing canons and rivers. The wire, which will be of large 
guage, pure copper, will be heavily coated with insulating sub- 
stance and will be laid along the ground. Stations will be estab- 
lished at every fifty miles. It is thought that this line will answer 
perfectly for the present. 

How it will be Built. 

D. E. Bohannon, the chief of construction of the line, ex- 
plained its details as follows : 

" Our method is very simple. The line is to be constructed 
on the same plans as the ordinary military line used by armies 
for war purposes. We have a wire a quarter of an inch thick 
and covered with kerite insulation, which has proved able to 
stand the rigorous climatic conditions prevailing in Alaska. 

" The wire is wound upon large reels, the same as an ordinary 
telegraph wire, and these coils are to be placed on dog sleds and 
dragged over the ice and snow. As we go along the reels will 
simply pay out the loose wire and run it along the ground, and 
thus our line will be through in something like six weeks, the 
time consumed in the ordinary tramp over the country." 



170 HOW TO GET THERE. 

The Dominon Government has made application to the United 
States Government to be permitted to build a telegraph line from 
a navigable point on Linn Canal, Alaska, to Tagish, across the 
summit, a distance of nearly 100 miles, so that communication 
may be had with the interior of the Yukon all the year around. 
It is said that the application will raise a new question only compar- 
able to that which was involved in the establishment of the 
mixed mail route in Alaska, which gave rise to so much talk. 

The Klondike will not be so badly off for mails this winter. 
The monthly letter mail which was started by the United States 
Government the first of July, 1897, will be continued, and there 
will be one round trip a month to Circle City until July 1, 1898. 
The Canadian Government has also arranged for postal service 
to Dawson City. 

The scheme of the United States postal service is interesting. 
Between Seattle and Sitka the mail steamers ply regularly. 
Between Sitka and Juneau there is a closed pouch steamboat 
service. Seattle makes up closed pouches for Douglas, Fort 
Wrangel, Juneau, Killisnoo, Ketchikan, Mary Island, Sitka and 
Metlakatlah. 

Service from Sitka. 

Connecting at Sitka is another sea service between that point 
and Unalaska, 1400 miles to the west. This service consists of 
one trip a month between Sitka and Unalaska from April to 
October and leaves Sitka immediately upon arrival of the 
mails from Seattle. Captain J. E. Hanson is acting clerk. From 
Unalaska the mails are dispatched to St. Michael's and thence to 
points on the Yukon. 

The Postofrlce Department has perfected not only a summer 
but a winter star route service between Juneau and Circle City. 
The route is overland and by boats and rafts over the lakes and 
down the Yukon, and is 900 miles long. A Chicago man 



HOW TO GET THERE. 



171 



named Beddoe carries the summer mail, making five trips 
between June and November, and is paid $500 a trip. Two 
Juneau men, Frank Corwin and Albert Hayes, operate the 
winter service, and draw for each round trip $1700 in gold. 
About 1200 letters are carried on each trip. 




FOREST SCENE NEAR SITKA. 

will be carried by the 



The Canadian mail to Dawson City 
mounted police from Dyea to Skagway. 

In the expectation that the boom in Alaskan and North 
British mining stocks will be one of the wildest in the history of 



172 HOW TO GET THERE. 

the world, and that the stock exchanges of London, New York, 
Chicago and San Francisco will be willing to pay handsomely 
for inside and speedy news from the centre of excitement on the 
Klondike, some capitalists have conceived the idea of establish- 
ing a carrier-pigeon service between Seattle or Victoria and 
Dawson and Circle Cities, with Juneau as the " way station " in 
the flight. The experience of Nansen, the Arctic explorer, with 
carrier pigeons in the ice fields surrounding the North Pole, has 
demonstrated the practicability of using these birds in Alaska 
during the coldest months. 

Plan of the Service. 

The idea is to transfer a number of " breeders " to Victoria, 
the nearest telegraphic station to the Klondike district, and also 
a number of them to Juneau and Dawson City, in the heart of 
the new Eldorado. It is believed that after the birds shall have 
been properly trained by frequent flights over the country 
between Dawson City and Juneau, they will be able to cover 
that extent of territory in about twenty-four hours. The birds, 
whose home cotes are located in Victoria, it is believed, can 
reach that place in less than thirty hours after being released at 
Juneau, a trip that is seldom made in less than three or four 
days by steamboat, although on one occasion it was made from 
Sitka in forty-nine hours. With such a line of communication 
opened up it ought to be possible for a message written in the 
frozen interior of Alaska to reach the most distant parts of the 
world within a few days. 

A carrier pigeon, which was taken from Portland, Ore., on 
the steamer Elder, to Dyea, returned to Portland on August 9th 
with the following message : 

" Dyea, Aug. 7th. Arrived safely here last night. All well 
on board. T. Cain." 



HOW TO GET THERE. 173 

In preparing to make the long overland journey into the 
Klondike, one of the things of most importance to be considered 
and one in which the " tenderfoot " left to himself, is most apt to 
make a serious blunder of omission, is the " outfit." 

There are all sorts of tastes and so there are all sorts of out- 
fits, but the following table, prepared by a man of ample experi- 
ence and good appetite, will serve as a sample for preparing a 
list of the articles necessary for a complete outfit for a year in 
the Klondike diggings : 

CLOTHING : — 3 suits heavy woolen underwear, 6 pairs heavy woolen 
stockings, 2 pairs blanket-lined mittens, 1 heavy Mackinaw coat, 2 pairs 
Mackinaw trousers, 2 dark woolen overshirts, 1 heavy sweater, 1 heavy 
rubber-lined top coat, 2 pairs heavy hip rubber boots, 2 pairs shoes, 1 
Canadian toque, 2 pairs extra heavy blankets, 1 suit oil skins, 2 pairs 
heavy overalls, 1 suit buckskin underwear, towels, needles, thread, wax, 
buttons. 

FOOD : — 350 pounds flour, 200 pounds bacon, 150 pounds beans, 10 
pounds tea, 75 pounds coffee (browned), 5 pounds baking powder, 25 
pounds salt, 150 pounds assorted dried fruits, 100 pounds evaporated vege- 
tables and dried meats, 10 pounds soap, 3 tins matches, 5 pounds sac- 
charine, citric acid. 

HARDWARE:— 1 long-handled shovel, 1 pick, 1 ax, duplicate handles, 
5 pounds wire nails, 5 pounds pitch, 3 pounds oakum, 2 large files, hammer, 
jackplane, brace and bits, large whipsaw, hand saw, 150 feet j^-inch rope, 
drawknife, chisel, jackknife, whetstone, hand ax, shaving outfit, frying pan, 
kettle, Yukon stove, bean pot, two plates, cup, teapot, knife, fork and six 
spoons, 2 buckets, 2 miners' gold pans. 

ARMAMENT : — Repeating rifle, 40-82, reloading tools and 100 rounds 
brass shell cartridges, I large hunting knife, fishing tackle, snow spectacles. 

CAMPING OUTFIT : — Heavy canvas tent, 8x10, pegs and guy ropes, 
I heavy-lined canvas sleeping-bag, rubber blanket, mosquito netting. 

These supplies will weigh about 1350 pounds and will cost 
about $225 at Seattle, or at Juneau, if the rush of gold-hunters 
has not exhausted the supply. 

It is important to pay attention to a sufficient stock of anti- 
scorbutics, for scurvy is the scourge of Arctic residence. 



174 HOW TO GET THERE. 

The shaving utensils listed may cause some to smile, as they 
think the Klondike is no place for "frills," but the experience of 
sojourners in those regions of long and intense cold is that a 
smooth face is a positive comfort. The breath's moisture con- 
gealing in moustache and beard is well nigh as painful a trial in 
winter in Alaska as the mosquitos in summer. It is comfort 
rather than style to shave. 

In making purchases the argonaut should bear in mind that 
the very best of everything is none too good and will more than 
repay the outlay in the long run. The clothing and food in 
particular should be first quality throughout. 

One of the most indispensable items in the list is the sleeping 
bag, with an outside covering of heavy duck and lined with 
warm lamb's wool. It is fixed up with handles, so that in case 
of necessity it can be swung up in trees. 

Hip rubber boots are another necessary article, in addition to 
which a pair of heavy miner's boots is generally taken. 

Native Costume. 

Many miners adopt the native costume — and it is comfortable 
as well as highly serviceable and picturesque. 

The boots, usually made by the coast Indians, are of several 
varieties. The water boot is of seal and walrus skin, while the 
dry weather or winter boot is of all varieties of styles and 
material. The more expensive have fur trimmed legs, elabo- 
rately designed. They cost from $2 to $5 a pair. Trousers are 
often made of Siberian fawn skin and the skin of the marmot, or 
ground squirrel. The parka, or upper garment, is usually of 
marmot skins, trimmed with wolverine around the hood and 
lower edge, the long hair from the sides of the wolverine being 
used for the hood. This hair is sometimes five or six inches in 
length and is useful in protecting the face of the wearer. Good, 



HOW TO GET THERE. 175 

warm flannels can be worn under the parka, and the whole outfit 
will weigh less than the ordinary clothes worn in a country where 
the weather gets down to zero. The parka is almost cold proof. 
But it is expensive, ranging in price from $25 to $100. Blankets 
and fur robes are used for bedding. Lynx skins make the best 
robes. Good ones cost $100. But the cheaper robes can be 
made of the skins of bears, mink, red fox and the Arctic hare. 
The skins of the latter animal make warm socks to be worn with 
the skin boots. 

A Cheap Outfit. 

Outfits can be purchased more cheaply than the sample given 
heretofore, by lopping off some of the articles. Here is the bill 
of one in which each article was of first-class quality, no groceries 
nor armament being included : 

3 suits heavy woolen underwear, at $4 50 $13 50 

4 pairs heavy stockings, at 40 cents 1 60 

2 pairs German socks, at $1.15 2 30 

1 pair hunting stockings I 25 

I heavy sweater 4 50 

1 lighter sweater 2 35 

1 leather fur-lined coat, short 7 00 

1 pair jeans trousers, lined with flannel 3 00 

I Mackinaw coat 3 00 

1 pair Mackinaw trousers 2 50 

I suit buckskin underwear 1200 

1 pair hip rubber boots 5 25 

1 pair heavy miners' boots 5 00 

1 pair heavy overshoes 2 10 

4 blankets, at $2.40 9 60 

1 pair leather-lined mitts 1 20 

1 pair woolen mitts I 00 

1 sleeping bag 12 50 

1 sleeping cap 75 

4 canvas carrying bags . . 2 00 

Tools, including two miners' pans, picks, shovels, axes, 

saw, file, knife 7 32 

Total $99 72 



176 HOW TO GET THERE. 

Some men buy sheepskin coats and vests, horsehide coats and 
trousers at $18 a suit and extra supplies of " jumbo " undercloth- 
ing. Some other men, remembering only the outfits carried to 
Harqua Hala or Leadville, squeeze all their supplies into a $100 
bill, but it is safe to say their frugality is " penny wise and pound 
foolish." 

Here is a list of provisions sufficient for one man for a month, 
made by an expert. [He probably was not a heavy eater. — Ed.] 

20 pounds flour, with baking powder, 12 pounds bacon, 6 pounds beans, 
5 pounds desiccated vegetables, 4 pounds butter, 5 pounds sugar, 4 cans milk, 
1 pound tea, 3 pounds coffee, 2 pounds salt, 5 pounds cornmeal, pepper, 
mustard. 

One of the men who has " been there " has the following to 
say of the cost of the provisions a prospector should take with 
him : 

" No one should venture into the region without some cash 
and a sufficient supply of provisions to last eight months. One 
should buy these things in Juneau, and he should start out with 
something like the following: 400 pounds of flour, 100 pounds 
of beans, 100 pounds of bacon, 100 pounds of sugar, 10 pounds 
of tea, 30 pounds of coffee, 1 50 pounds of mixed fruit, salt, 
pepper and cooking utensils. The whole outfit can be purchased 
well within $90. The cost of conveying this stock of provisions 
to the headwaters of Lake Linderman will average about $ 1 5 per 
IOO, but even that makes it considerably cheaper than the same 
goods can be purchased in the mining camp. 

Value of Salt. 

Just how valuable salt sometimes becomes in the gold fields 
is illustrated in a story told by a miner who lately returned from 
there. His party ran out of that useful article, and it seemed 
that they would die without it. They came across another party 



HOW TO GET THERE. 177 

that had salt, but refused to part with it. A pitched battle was 
about to begin for possession of the salt, when some one sug- 
gested that those who owned the salt were not overly flush with 
gold dust, while those who had no salt had plenty of gold. It 
was then arranged that gold should be weighed against the salt, 
and this was done. 

And after this story of the salt, which needs not to be taken 
with a grain of that condiment, it is well to reiterate to every 
gold hunter going out to winter in the Klondike fields : 

" Take your own grub — and plenty of it." 

Food in Compact Form. 

To those who find something terrifying about a heavy outfit, 
with packers' prices over the passes at twenty cents a pound and 
upwards, it may be suggested that many staple articles of food 
have been prepared in the utmost condensed or concentrated 
forms for the use of soldiers in the field, and will no doubt be 
equally as nourishing.to prospectors, while enabling them to carry 
extensive supplies in small bulk. 

For instance, a cup of tea or coffee is crowded into the size 
and form of a quinine capsule, a mince pie is the size of a cough 
drop, and other delicacies are in proportion. Soup " buttons " 
are prepared in the same way, with meat, vegetables and season- 
ing all ready for hot water. A loaf of bread is compressed into 
the size and shape of a soda cracker, which swells up to normal 
size when put in hot water. Ten pounds of vegetables are put 
into one-pound can, and a cubic ounce of desiccated beef is 
equal in nourishment to several pounds of fresh meat. 

Prospectors who go out by the St. Michael's route, if they 

purpose wintering on the Klondike, or in Upper Alaska, will not 

need to take so elaborate a provision supply by the amount of 

at least three months' consumption, but they had better keep 

12 



178 HOW TO GET THERE, 

pretty close to the clothing, hardware, armament and camping 
schedules. They will find it advisable not to omit the food item 
altogether unless they have good assurance that the supplies 
brought in by the trading companies will be ample. 

Robert Krook's Advice. 

Lest any should think too much stress has been laid on tht 
matter of supplies to be taken into the Klondike, these words 
of Robert Krook, the young Swedish miner, who returned from 
Dawson City during the summer, are given in full : 

" Every one who goes to Alaska must rely mainly on two 
establishments for supplies. Even those who have a good outfit 
will find it often necessary to patronize one or other of the stores. 
Prices are on an average three times as high as at Juneau or St. 
Michael's, and four to five times as steep as in San Francisco. 
When the winter is nearly over and supplies begin to run short 
prices are, as a consequence, raised. Toward the close of last 
winter, before the new supplies came up the river, prices were 
doubled. 

"All through the winter men arrive at such mining towns as 
Dawson City, bringing with them from one to two tons of food 
and clothing. They go up the streams and peddle their goods, 
taking care to lose nothing for their time and trouble. 

"To one blacksmith shop all miners must go or send when 
they have tools to be repaired, or when they need anything 
made to order which the stores cannot supply. 

" Dawson City can boast of two good practicing physicians — 
Police Surgeon Willis and another doctor who went from Circle 
City to Dawson last year. They carry their own supplies of 
staple drugs and medicines, so as to be able to compound their 
own prescriptions. Ordinary remedies are to be obtained at the 
two trading stores. 



HOW TO GET THERE. 179 

" I think it well to mention that the credit system has been 
entirely done away with in Dawson. No one can make a pur- 
chase of any kind without the necessary cash in the shape of dust. 
Of course it must not be understood that we would let a man 
starve, but on the other hand, no one must expect to be sup- 
ported by the generosity of the people. We are all hard workers 
up there, and if any man will work he can always make a living. 

"The impression seems to prevail that the mines are close to 

Dawson City. That is a mistake. The rich creeks are fifteen 

miles off, and it is a day's journey to reach them. The camp 

there is as pretty a place as one desires to see. The white tents 

and huts of the miners are scattered along the banks of the 

creeks or built on the mountain sides, as convenience or fancy 

dictated." 

Medicine Chest. 

Another thing which all prospectors should be careful to take 
along is a medicine chest. Doctors are few, distances long and 
emergencies of health or limb often most urgent in the Yukon 
mining camps. 

Here is a list of contents of a medicine chest, whose cost is 

within $10, and every article of which is useful in the wilderness. 

Quinine pills 50 

Compound cathartic pills 50 

Acetanilid tablets 3 dozen 

Chlorate potash 1 box 

Mustard plasters 6 

Belladonna plasters 6 

Carbolic salve 4 ounces 

Chloroform liniment 8 ounces 

Witch hazel 1 pint 

Essence ginger 4 ounces 

Paregoric 4 ounces 

Laudanum 1 ounce 

Borax 4 ounces 

Tincture iodine 1 ounce 



180 HOW TO GET THERE. 

Spirits nitre 2 ounces 

Tincture iron I ounce 

Cough mixture 8 ounces 

Toothache drops 1 bottle 

Vaseline 1 bottle 

Iodoform 2 drams 

Iyint 2 yards 

Assorted bandages )& dozen 

Rubber adhesive plasters 2 feet 

Absorbent cotton 4 ounces 

Monsell's salts for hemorrhages — In quantities in accordance 
with the person's liability to attacks of the trouble. 

Health and the Klondike. 

As a rule, no one in ordinary health and strength need fear 
to winter in the Klondike or to risk the hardships incident to 
getting there, merely on account of the Arctic cold. The brac- 
ing effect of the northern climate will probably prove beneficial 
to many. Snow and ice are in themselves rather unpleasant 
than unhealthful. Scientific records have well established that 
longevity increases as residence is advanced from the equator 
towards the poles. There is more risk of disease in a voyage to 
Panama or India than in one to Behring Strait or Herschel Island. 

But weak hearts and weak lungs cannot face northern blasts. 
Rheumatism unfits for such tests. People of purely sedentary 
habits take big chances on the overland trails and in the gulches. 
Weak eyes would be severely tried and, perhaps, blinded by the 
glare of the snow-clad land. Physical exhaustion, colds, 
scurvy, rheumastism and snow blindness are the ills chiefly to be 
dreaded by the Alaskan gold-hunters, and any who are subject 
to troubles of the heart, throat or lungs should stay religiously 
away from the Klondike. The medicine chest would be a futile 
resort for them, and some volunteer sexton would likely do for 
them the last earthly office before the Alaskan spring bloomed 
in May. 



HOW TO GET THERE. 181 

But now that the daring prospector is in the Klondike and 
washing out the precious dust, his next thought will be, as his 
"pile " grows, to get out and back to the baked meats, and flesh 
pots of civilization. Hear what Mrs. Frederick Schwatka, who 
had much personal experience in Alaska, and got the benefit of 
much more vicariously from pioneers returning from the wilder- 
ness, has to say about " how to get out : " 

" This getting back is a formidable undertaking that appalls 
so many. They choose rather to remain whole winters doing 
practically nothing that brings in more than a bare existence. 
In getting out it is necessary to make progress against the 600 
miles of swift river current. Rowing is out of the question, 
walking and poling being the methods used. The poles are 
about twelve feet long and made of seasoned spruce saplings 
and sharpened at the butt end. Sometimes an iron spike is put 
in, otherwise it must be sharpened two or three times a day. 
Two polemen stand in bow and stern. To stand all day in a 
wabbling, cranky boat, and work like a beaver until six or seven 
hundred miles are traversed at about fifteen miles a day is in 
itself a formidable undertaking. Then the great pass must be 
scaled without any assistance, for there are no Indians now to 
help. Here it is that many a discouraged miner has given up all 
hope and found a grave in the ice-covered mountains. It is the 
thought of again seeing something of civilization and the outside 
world that buoys up the traveler by this difficult trail." 



CHAPTER V. 

A Land of Wonders. 

Land of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances — Ter- 
rors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of Travel — A 
Great Glacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery — Rush of Tor- 
rents — Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River — Canon of Lewis River 
— Dominion of the Frost King — Towering Volcanoes — The Winter 
Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast 
Solitudes — The Alaskan Natives. 

THE man who goes from southern latitudes to seek his for- 
tune in Alaska will leave familiar scenes for a land of 
wonders. His first experience will of necessity be one of 
surprise. He will find a country of new people, new scenes, 
and new modes of life. 

Every one who has visited the land about which so much has 
been written and printed relative to the gold findings tells the 
same story of the matchless grandeur of the territory. With 
few exceptions all give the same report of the peoples and mar- 
vels there to be seen. 

It is the land of the midnight sun and the mid-day moon; of 
salt water intruding hundreds of miles into the country, between 
mountains that overhang it in such a way as to excite a feeling 
of awe ; of the Aurora Borealis, the displays of which are more 
magnificent than are ever witnessed in southern regions. It is a 
land of majestic mountains, of vast inland seas, of stupendous 
glaciers, compared with which those of the old world are but 
trifling affairs. It is a land from which thundering icebergs come 
plunging into the sea and float off in their glory of inimitable 
splendor. It is a land of exceeding wealth in fish, in timber, in 
minerals. And, above all, it is the land in which many think the 
182 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 183 

mother lode of the gold supply of the Western Continent is to 
be found. 

One of the first things that will be forced upon the visitor 
will be the fact that Alaska is a country of magnificent distances. 
It is nine times the size of the New England states ; twice the 
size of Texas and three times as large as California. It stretches 
more than iooo miles from north to south, and extends west to 
the extreme limit of the Aleutian Islands. 

Few people in the United States, probably, are aware of the 
fact that the gold fields which are attracting so much attention 
are pretty nearly on the medial line of the United States from 
east to west. From Sitka, for instance, westward to the limit of 
the Aleutian Islands, it is nearly 3000 miles ; and eastward from 
the same point it is not over about 3500 miles to the most east- 
erly coast of Maine. 

The name of the country itself is simply a designation for the 
immensity of its territory — a wonder. It is a corruption of the 
Indian name Al— ay— ke— sa, which was given by the native island- 
ers to the mainland, and which signifies "great country." As a 
matter of fact, the territory contains nearly 600,000 square miles ; 
and it is thus nearly one-fifth as large as all the other states and 
territories of the Union combined. It would make more than 
twelve states the size of New York. 

Poor Transit Conveyances. 

These enormous distances soon impress themselves upon the 
traveler, and the sense of interminable space is accentuated by 
the lack of ordinary transit facilities. Alaska is a land in which 
the steam train is not known, and it may safely be said that a 
large proportion of the people living in the country have never 
heard of such a thing as a railroad. Even horses and wagons 
are virtually things unknown. The country has too rigorous a 



181 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

climate for the successful use of any beasts of burden other than 
dogs. Hence, dogs as pack animals and as steeds for sledges 
have become one of the chief possessions of the people. 

These vast stretches of country are also observable in the 
marked differences of climate. Southern Alaska is really a dif- 
ferent country than the more northern districts in which the gold 
fields of the Yukon have been found. William H. Seward some 
years ago, writing from Berlin, makes use of these words: "We 
have seen of Germany enough to show that its climate is neither 
so genial, nor its soil so fertile, nor its resources of forests and 
mines so rich as those of southern Alaska." 

Akin to Norway. 

In climate and all physical features southeastern Alaska is but 
a repetition of southern Norway. It enjoys, however, a greater 
wealth of forests. In latitude, configuration, temperature, rain- 
fall and ocean currents it is identical. Norwegians, therefore, 
could be transplanted to Sitka and its neighborhood, and, barring 
the lack of improvements of the old world, would scarcely real- 
ize that their location had been changed. During the thirty-six 
years that the Russians kept meteorological records in Sitka the 
mercury went below zero but four times. 

A comparison here may be of interest. St. Johns, New- 
foundland, is literally beset by icebergs in summer, and its har- 
bor in the winter time is virtually frozen solid. Yet Sitka, which 
is ten degrees north of it has always an open roadstead, and it is 
only the ends of the longer fiords that are ever covered by ice. 

Again it is pointed out that Sitka Castle, which is three miles 
north of Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, has a higher average win- 
ter temperature than the highland home. In southern Alaska 
the snow rarely lies on the ground at the sea level. The mist 
and rains reduce it to slush almost as quickly as in Kentucky or 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 185 

the District of Columbia, the isothermal equals of this region. 
We hear much of snow shoes in connection with Alaskan life, 
and yet skating is one of the rarest of pleasures for the 
Sitkans. 

It is a different matter, however, when one pierces the interior 
and wends his way over the mountain tops or through the valleys 
or along the mighty streams to the gold fields. As one ascends 
farther north, with the change of scenes comes a change of air, 
till in the neighborhood of Dawson City, Circle City, Klondike, 
and the other mining camps, it is no unusual thing for the mer- 
cury to fall from sixty to ninety degrees below zero. 

Nine months of the year in these northern regions the ground 
is frozen to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet as solid as a rock. 
Even in summer, which there is virtually but three months, the 
ground rarely thaws out more than from two to two and a half 
inches. 

People who invade these northern districts find that a new 
mode of life is forced upon them. The clothing which would be 
comfortable even in Sitka no longer furnishes adequate warmth, 
and as a result, those who can do so, usually adopt the native 
costume, and dress largely in furs. 

Wonders to Marvel At. 

The voyager, be he excursionist or miner, thus finds an endless 
variety of things to admire, to wonder at and to ponder over. 
He will scarcely believe his senses or realize the fact that in sail- 
ing up the vast inland arms of the sea, which extend often hun- 
dreds of miles toward the interior, to which he is bound, he is 
really riding on salt water, mere inlets of the Pacific Ocean. It 
scarcely seems possible to one that he can glide along day after 
day and week after week, if need be, without encountering a 
single wave or a single ripple to disturb the motion of the vessel, 



186 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

and yet, at the same time, be all the time on the ocean and have 
the benefits of an ocean trip. 

Those who have made the journey over Alaskan waters say 
the only realizing sense they have of the character of the voyage 
is the voracious appetite engendered, without the accompaniment 
of the much dreaded monster — sea sickness. 

The islands, too, by which the vessel glides, will be a constant 
source of wonder. One will marvel how, and when, and why, 
these islands past which he rides were formed — islands, some of 
them no larger than a good sized house, and others large enough 
to be empires in themselves. 

Channels a Menace. 

Not infrequently the traveler has to pass through narrow and 
serpentine passages, which can only be navigated at slack and 
high tide on account of the teriffic current which rushes through 
the straits at other times. These channels are often hundreds of 
miles in length and as straight as an arrow. Many of them are 
almost unfathomable in depth and are banked on either side by 
perpendicular and gigantic mountains, whose untrod summits are 
clothed in ice and clouds. 

The impression given the traveler is very much the same as 
that afforded by the somewhat similar scenery of upper Norway. 
In a general sense there is the same bleakness observable on the 
mountains, a somewhat similar stunted vegetation and an almost 
identical invasion of the mainland by the sea. But what the trav- 
eler will not find in Norway or in any other part of the world are 
the matchless glaciers that, in common acceptance, are one of the 
most remarkable features of Alaska scenery. 

The traveler will see a number of them on his way to Juneau, 
glittering in the distance and apparently bleak and inaccessible. 
As he gets farther into the country, these glaciers become 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 187 

greater in size and more numerous. It has been said that the 
largest glacier in Switzerland would not make more than a 
respectable sized nose if it could be transferred bodily, to the 
face of one of these sleeping giants in the fastnesses of Alaska. 

The Great Muir Glacier. 

Here, again, a comparison will be of service to enable one to 
appreciate the wonders of Alaska scenery. Of the Norwegian 
glaciers, which may be most fairly used for comparison with the 
Muir, the Jodtesalbrae, the largest glacier in Europe, lies three 
degrees north of the Muir, at an elevation of 3000 feet above 
the sea. It covers 470 square miles. 

The Muir glacier drains an area of 800 square miles, and the 
actual ice surface covers about 350 square miles. The mass of 
it is thirty-five miles long and from ten to fifteen miles wide, and 
lies but a few hundred feet above the sea level. It is fed by 
twenty-six tributary streams, seven of which are over a mile in 
width. 

If all their affluents were named and counted, as in Switzer- 
land, the Muir might boast two hundred branches or tributary 
glaciers in its system. The mountain gateway, two and a half 
miles wide, through which it pours to the sea, is formed by 
spurs of Mt. Case, 5510 feet high, and Mt. Wright, 4944 feet 
high. All the mountains in the immediate vicinity of the glacier 
average from 4000 to 6000 feet in height. 

For further comparison it may be pointed out that the 
Svartisen, the snow glacier of the Norway coast, about eight 
degrees north of the Muir and on the line of the Arctic circle, 
is an ice mantle forty-four miles long and from twelve to 
twenty-five miles wide, occupying a plateau 4000 feet above the 
sea. The Swiss glaciers, all lying from 4000 to 6000 feet 
above the sea are like those of Mt. Ranier, and in no way to be 



183 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

compared with the Muir, twenty of whose arms exceed the Mer 
de Glace in size ! 

Apropos of the Muir glacier one cannot do better than to 
quote a few words from the lamented Kate Field on Alaskan 
glaciers in general and the Muir glacier in particular. Says 
she: 

" Soon after leaving Wrangel, the first Alaskan glacier is seen 
in the distance, looking like a frozen river emerging from the 
home of the clouds. The sea is glassy, and a procession of 
small bergs, broken away from the glacier, float silently toward 
the south. It is Nature's dead march to the sun, to melt in its 
burning kisses, and to be transplanted into happy tears. Wild 
ducks fly past, and from his eyrie a bald-headed eagle surveys 
the scene — deeply, darkly, beautifully blue — apparently con- 
scious that he is the symbol of the Republic. 

" There are glaciers and glaciers. In Switzerland a glacier is 
a vast bed of dirty air-holed ice that has fastened itself, like a 
cold porous-plaster, to the side of an Alp. Distance alone 
lends enchantment to the view. In Alaska a glacier is a won- 
derful torrent that seems to have been suddenly frozen when 
about to plunge into the sea. Down and about mountains wind 
these snow-clad serpents, extending miles inland, with as many 
arms sometimes as an octopus. 

A Frozen Niagara. 

" Wonderfully picturesque is the Davidson glacier, but more 
extended is the Muir glacier, which marks the extreme northerly 
points of pleasure travel. Imagine a glacier three miles wide 
and three hundred feet high at its mouth. Think of Niagara 
Falls frozen stiff, add thirty-six feet to its height, and you have 
a slight idea of the terminus of Muir Glacier, in front of which 
your steamer anchors ; picture a background of mountains fifteen 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 



189 



thousand feet high, all snow clad, and then imagine a gorgeous 
sun lighting up the ice crystals with rainbow coloring. 

" The face of the glacier takes on the hue of aquamarine, the 
hue of every bit of floating ice, big and little, that surrounds the 
steamer and makes navigation serious. These dazzling serpents 
move at the rate of sixty-four feet a day, tumbling headlong 




MOUNTAIN SCENE IN ALASKA, 



into the sea, and, as it falls, the ear is startled with submarine 
thunder, the echoes of which resound far and near. Down, 
down, down goes the berg, and woe to the boat in its way when 
it again rises to the surface." 

If the tide is right, the traveler will hear the thundering crash 
caused by the icebergs breaking off from the glaciers and 



190 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

tumbling into the water. It is no unusual thing for a vessel on 
these inland arms of the ocean to be literally in a sea of ice. 

A Picture of Beauty. 

This is declared to be one of the most beautiful pictures man 
ever witnessed, and many of the thousands of people, who have 
left southern latitudes to wend their way into the fastnesses of 
Alaskan territory have written home in the most glowing terms 
of the wonders, witnessed, especially in the ocean part of their 
journey. Of these descriptions none, perhaps, is more striking 
or will convey a better idea of what travel in these solitudes 
really is than the words of Miss Skidmore, who threaded the 
wilderness and wrote a book on her experiences. Says she : 

" Life on the waveless arms of the ocean has a great fascina- 
tion on one of these Alaskan trips, and, crowded with novelty, 
incidents and surprises as each day is, the cruise seems all too 
short when the end approaches. One dreads to get to land 
again and end the easy, idle wandering through the long archi- 
pelago. 

" The voyage is but one protracted marine picnic, and an 
unbroken succession of memorable days. Where in all the list 
of them to place the red letter or the white stone puzzles one. 
The passengers beg the captain to reverse the engines, or boldly 
turn back and keep up the cruise until the autumn gales make 
us willing to return to the region of earthly cares and responsi- 
bilities, daily mails and telegraph wires. The long nightless 
days never lose their spells, and in retrospect the wonders of the 
north land appear the greater. 

" The weeks of continuous travel over deep, placid waters, in 
the midst of magnificent scenery, might be a journey of explora- 
tion on a new continent, so different is it from anything else in 
American travel. Seldom is anything but an Indian canoe met. 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 191 

For days no sign of settlement is seen along the quiet fiords, 
and making nocturnal visits to small fisheries, only the unbroken 
wilderness is in sight during waking hours. 

" The anchoring in strange places, the going to and fro in 
small boats, the queer people, the strange life, the peculiar fas- 
cination of the frontier and the novelty of the whole thing 
affects one strangely. Each arm of the sea, and the unknown, 
unexplored wilderness that lies back of every mile of shore, 
continually tempt the imagination." 

No one can give so good an idea of the marvels and delights 
of this strange and virtually unknown country as those who 
have actually made an extended journey in it, and no apology, 
therefore, is made for the insertion of a passage written by 
another traveler, who, like Miss Skidmore, went where few readers 
of this book have been privileged to go. Speaking of the won- 
derful scenery of the country the writer says : 

" It is, perhaps, a little remarkable that the marvelous pano- 
rama of fantastic peaks, rushing streams, huge glaciers and mad- 
dened cataracts in no way lessens the enjoyment or appreciation 
of the mountains by the-sea, that pass in review during the trip 
to Alaska. 

Through Noisy Torrents. 

" In one case the traveler is rushing onward, literally at rail- 
way speed, now passing through the shoulder of a mountain, and 
now round the base of another, sometimes through primeval 
forests, sometimes by the side of a noisy torrent or deep canon, 
and sometimes through a secluded valley ; and in the other 
instance he is gliding along the deep but placid waters of the 
landlocked arms of the Pacific Ocean, on the undisturbed sur- 
face of immeasurable depths, while the snow capped heights are 
within pistol shot of where he sits, and the rugged precipices fall 
sheer into the depths almost at his side. 



192 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

"The entire length of this inland passage of over iooo miles 
is heavily timbered. Great avalanches of snow have swept down 
the mountains here and there, and in their devastating tracks 
long streaks of timber have been mowed down. At intervals, 
little Indian villages dot the shores, resting most picturesquely 
upon narrow shelves just at the edge of tide water, Through- 
out the whole stretch of country, travel by land is almost impos- 
sible owing to the dense timber and underbrush that cover its 
surface." 

By Another Witness. 

One who nas traveled far and wide (the Marquis of Dufferin 
and Ava) pithily describes the trip through these waters : 

" Such a spectacle as its (British Columbia) coast line presents 
is not to be paralleled by any country in the world. Day after 
day, for a whole week, in a vessel of nearly 2000 tons, we 
threaded an interminable labyrinth of watery lanes and reaches, 
that wound endlessly in and out of a network of islands, prom- 
ontories and peninsulas for thousands of miles, unruffled by 
the slightest swell from the adjoining ocean, and presenting at 
every turn an ever-shifting combination of rock, verdure, glacier 
and snow-capped mountains of unrivalled grandeur and beauty. " 

H. Juneau, one of the founders of Juneau, Alaska, gives a 
similar account. Says he : 

" Along the seacoast Alaska presents a grand and picturesque 
view for miles in extent, from an ocean steamer. It is a good 
idea to get acquainted with Alaska and enjoy its scenery. It is 
a grand country to visit, and its scenery surpasses any mountain- 
ous scenery in the world. Travel on water can be provided for 
in comfort.and be enjoyed without great risk of danger. 

" Alaska is a country on edge. It is so mountainous. Basins 
are mainly filled with ice. The weather is always hard in great 
extremes. Where there is no ice there is moss and devil's club, 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 193 

the latter a vine that winds around everything it can clutch. 
Persons walking become entwined in a network of moss and 
devil's club, and passage is extremely difficult and ' torturous ' 
as well as tortuous." 

Miss Skidmore has another interesting passage relative to the 
beauties to be seen on the trip north from Sitka. Speaking on 
the straits and narrows, she says : 

" The tourist should not miss any part of this scenic passage ; 
the near shores, the forested heights and the magnificent range 
of peaks around the Stikines delta, composing one of the noblest 
landscapes he will see. The sunset effects in the broad channels 
at either end are renowned, and possessor of a Claude Lorraine 
glass is the most fortunate of tourists. 

Marvelous Sunrise Effects. 

" He who has seen the sunrise lights in the narrows has seen 
the best of the most marvelous atmospheric effects and color 
displays the matchless coast can offer. It is a place of resort 
for eagles, whose nests may be seen in many tree tops, and is a 
nursery for young gulls, who float like myriad tufts of down in 
the still regions. 

" A hedge of living green rises from the water's edge, every 
spruce twig festooned with pale green mosses. At low tide 
broad bands of russet sea weed frame the islets and border the 
shores, and fronds, stems and orange heads of the giant kelp 
float in the intensely green waters. 

" The tides, rushing in from either end, meet off Finger Point, 
whose two red spar buoys are prominent in the exciting naviga- 
tion. The tide-fall varies from fourteen to twenty-three feet, 
and salmon, entering with the tide, turn aside at the red spar 
buoys, clear an islet, manoeuvre to the foot of the falls, leap its 
eight feet at high tide and swim to a mountain lake." 

13 



194 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

Nor is the element of the wonderful lost as one leaves these 
deep inlets of the sea and penetrates into the interior fastnesses. 
One leaves in a measure the stunted, yet luxuriant, forestation 
of the southern and coast districts for a bleaker and more repel- 
lant landscape. But the great water courses, such as the Yukon 
and the Klondike, with their numerous tributaries, in a sense 
take the place of the salt water inlets. The rivers alone would 
suffice to give a fair idea of the immensity of the country. And 
right here a word about the Yukon. 

What the Amazon is to South America, the Mississippi to the 
central portion of the United States, the Yukon is to Alaska. 

It is the great inland highway of the country. It makes it 
possible for the explorer to penetrate to the very heart of this 
unknown region. 

This mighty stream rises in the Rocky Mountains of British 
Columbia, and the Coast Range Mountains in southeastern 
Alaska, about 135 miles from the city of Juneau, which is the 
present metropolis of Alaska. It is only known, however, as the 
Yukon River at the point where the Pelly River, the branch that 
heads in British Columbia, meets with the Lewis River, which 
heads in southeastern Alaska. This point of confluence is at 
Fort Selkirk, in the Northwest Territory, something like 125 
miles southeast of Klondike. 

Giant Among Rivers. 

The Yukon River proper, therefore, is 2044 miles in length. 
From Fort Selkirk it flows northwest 400 miles and touches the 
Arctic Circle. Thence it bends in a southward course for a dis- 
tance of 1000 miles and empties into Behring Sea. The mighty 
stream drains more than 600,000 miles of territory and dis- 
charges at least a third more water into Behring Sea than the 
Mississippi River discharges into the Gulf of Mexido. 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 



195 



At its mouth it is sixty miles wide. As far inland as 1500 
miles it widens out from one to ten miles. Throughout its 
course it is dotted with inland islands, more than 1000 of these, 
it is said, sending the course of the stream in as many different 
directions. The stream thus merits being considered as a geo- 
graphical wonder, and from mouth to head there is scarcely a 
point devoid of interest to the traveler. 




SCENE ON THE YUKON RIVER. 

Like most of the great streams of Alaska the navigation of 
the river is attended with danger, and the sense of constant peril 
affords one of the pleasures of the excursionist's trip to the inte- 
rior. Only natives who are thoroughly familiar with the river 
are intrusted with the piloting of boats up the stream during the 



196 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

season of low water. Even at the season of high water there 
are places where the stream is so shallow that it is not navigable 
by sea-going vessels ; but only by flat-bottom boats of a carry- 
ing capacity of from 400 to 500 tons. 

Canon of Lewis River. 

As an illustration of the danger incident to this river travel, a 
few words may be quoted relative to the canon of the Lewis River, 
which were written by one who recently made a trip to the inte- 
rior. Says he : 

"Before reaching the canon, a high cut bank of sand on the 
right hand side will give warning that it is close at hand. Good 
river men have run the canon safely even with loaded rafts ; but 
it is much surer to make a landing on the right side and portage 
the outfit around the canon three-quarters of a mile and run the 
raft through empty. 

" The sameness of the scenery on approaching the cafion is so 
marked that many parties have gotten into the canon before they 
were aware of it. Below the cafion are the White Horse rapids — 
a bad piece of water ; but the raft can be lined down the right 
hand side until near the White Horse, three miles below. This 
is a box cafion about a hundred yards long, and fifty in width, a 
chute through which the water of the river, which is nearly 600 
feet wide just above, rushes with maddening force. 

" But few have ever a tempted to run it, and four of them 
have been drowned. Of two men who made the attempt in 
May, '88, nothing was found save a bundle of blankets." 

Reference has been made to the intense cold of the northern 
regions where gold abounds, and it must be borne in mind that 
during the winter season, which is practically nine months of the 
year, the Yukon is absolutely frozen solid and thus closed to 
travel. The Frost King asserts his dominion and locks up all 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 197 

approaches with impenetrable ice. Only for ten or twelve weeks, 
that is, from the middle of June to the early part of September, 
is the river for use in travel, except by way of sledges drawn 
by dogs. 

When, however, in the early spring the bonds of ice are riven, 
a never-ending panorama of extraordinary picturesqueness is 
unfolded to the voyager. The banks of the stream are then 
fringed with flowers and carpeted with the all-pervading moss or 
tundra, as it is called. Then birds in countless number and of 
infinite variety in plumage, sing out a welcome to the traveler 
from every tree top. One may pitch his tent wherever he likes 
in midsummer, and a bed of roses, a clump of poppies or a 
bunch of blue bells will adorn his camp. 

Above all the Glaciers. 

One is never allowed to forget, however, that high above this 
brief paradise by the river side, which for a time is almost of 
tropical exuberance, the giant glaciers sleep in the summit of the 
mountains above the bed of roses. With the first days of Sep- 
tember, and here the traveler will experience a deep sense of 
regret — everything is changed. The bed of roses has disap- 
peared before the ice breath of the Winter King. This, as has 
been said before, often sends down the mercuiy to from eighty 
to ninety degrees below zero. 

The birds, as might be expected, hie themselves southward. 
The white man has to take to his cabin and the Indian to his 
hut, and even the bears are early driven away from the field and 
begin their sleep of nine months. Throughout all northern 
Alaska, from September on, the rivers are but ribbons of ice, 
marking off the mountains, and the plains, and the forests, which 
are all alike covered with a coat of snow. 

As might be expected from the general configuration of the 



198 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

land, Alaska is a country of fine waterfalls. The most remark- 
able of these leap from the cliffs along Cook's Inlet, and the 
alteration of snow peaks, volcanoes, forested slopes and fertile 
prairies make a continually changing and charming picture to 

the eye. 

A Land of Volcanoes. 

Go where you will you will find snow-clad peaks, glaciers, 
cliffs, and ferreting their way through the country, innumerable 
streams, the courses of which are often partially blocked, resulting 
in waterfalls and rapids that would be regarded as sights worth 
long trips were they anywhere else in the world than in the 
distant and, as it is commonly supposed, forbidding territory of 
Alaska. There is a whole line of volcanoes, curving down to 
the southwest and joining those of Kurile Islands and of Japan, 
which complete the Pacific's " ring of fire," as it is called. 

Brilliant auroral displays are mostly to be witnessed in August, 
and at such times mirages frequently appear. By refraction, the 
ice floes are often magnified into ice cliffs iooo or more feet high, 
apparently barring a ship's advance or retreat. Many attempts 
have been made by photographers to secure a sharp negative of 
a mirage, but it is difficult to do so. The lines of glimmering 
ice cliffs leave no definition or shadow, but waver and fade 
quickly. The reflected light from these glaciers and snow fields 
is thus often a bar to the most experienced photographer. 

The world has been given, however, one great hoax in the 
way of a picture of an Alaskan mirage. This was the so-ealled 
Phantom or Silent City, which was issued in 1889 by Richard 
Willoughby. Thousands of prints of a cloudy negative of 
Bristol, England, were sold on his statement that he had seen 
and photographed the city from Glacier Bay. 

It is with the advent of the Winter King that the Alaskan 
dogs come in play so conspicuously. And a word about these 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 199 

dogs, which are really one of the wonders of Alaska, will be 
of interest. They really seem not dogs at all, but animals closely 
related to the wolf. 

Strange as it may seem, they are all natural born thieves, or 
nothing. They are all prone to enjoy what is commonly called 
a "scrap," and they usually celebrate the arrival of newcomers 
by a general fight. Men who have spent years in the Alaskan 
wilds say that the dogs will steal anything from a pair of boots 
to a side of bacon, and in doing so will evince as great a degree 
of cunning and cleverness as the most expert thief who ever 
plied his calling in a metropolitan city. 

To be on the safe side in the matter of their possessions, all 
the miners have adopted the plan of "caching" their harness, 
clothing, etc. This is done by erecting a strong house upon 
posts twelve or fifteen feet above ground for the safe keeping of 
all such articles. 

Animals With Cracked Barks. 

A peculiar thing connected with these dogs is the fact that 
they are all animals with cracked barks. In other words, their 
attempts at barking are simply a source of the most unheard dis- 
cord. The howling of wolves, it is said, is pleasant music com- 
pared with the howling of these dogs at night. 

What is more, on the slightest provocation, in the dead of 
night, some dog will raise an apology for a bark, and every 
animal within a radius of five miles will join in the general up- 
roar. Alaska is not obliged to wait for the Fourth of July for 
discord. The dogs can make it on short notice at any time. 

To the stranger in Alaska the sunlit nights and the moonlit 
days will for a long time be a source of constant wonder. Old 
Sol, when he is on duty, which, it must be remembered, is only 
part of the year, is no laggard in Alaska. He rises before three 



200 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

o'clock in the morning and keeps steadily at work until fully 
eleven o'clock at night. In the gold regions, therefore, during 
the mining months, there are a few short hours only when it is 
not sunshine. 

Luna Takes Precedence. 

During the long winter months, however, Sol takes a back 
seat and Luna takes precedence. Then there is an era of moon- 
lit days. Miss Anna Fulcomer, a plucky University of Chicago 
girl, adverts to this peculiarity — one may say wonder — in a letter 
written from Circle City, in the heart of the gold region. She 
says : 

"While teaching at Circle City I went to school by the light 
of the setting moon — that was about nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing — and went home at noon by the light of the rising moon. 
Literally I have lived in moonlight for the last year. Moonlight 
and cold. Still, the temperature last winter was not as intense as 
usual. The coldest we had it was only sixty-five degrees below 
zero, and that for Alaska in the northern latitudes was mild 
weather. It was quite cold enough, however, to make one feel 
the need of genuine Alaskan clothing, good shelter and good 
solid food. 

" I pity the people who come here under the delusion that 
mining life in Alaska is anything comparable with what it was 
during the gold excitement in California. There they had mild 
weather, in which people could comfortably camp out. But 
people here must come with the expectation of meeting cold and 
hardship and possible suffering." 

That many of the miners who penetrate into the wilderness in 
the hopes of amassing wealth do meet hardship and suffering is 
now an old story. The following words taken from the Alaskan 
Searchlight are in point at this time. Says the writer, who made 
the trip from Juneau to the Yukon in January : 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 201 

" The miner of Alaska looks to the Yukon country for a repro- 
duction of the scences of the Cassiar and Caribon districts. That 
along that river and its numerous tributaries there are millions 
of dollars hidden in the sands or locked within the mountains' 
rock-bound walls there can be no doubt. 

"For several years the more adventuresome of our placer 
miners have been going to that Mecca of the North — Forty-Mile 
Creek. Many of them have returned after one or two season's 
sojourn none the richer, save in experience ; others have struck 
it rich and made for themselves snug little fortunes ; and a thou- 
sand others are wintering there now hoping that next summer 
may bring them that good luck for which they have so long 
waited. 

" Day after day, and season after season, the miners toil cheer- 
fully at the bars and old water courses of the creeks and rivers 
which form part of the Yukon system, and every year sees their 
numbers increased, and every fall a larger quantity of gold finds 
its way to the mints, and every spring the Alaskan steamers bring 
several hundreds to join the fortune hunters of the interior, 
Forty-Mile being the objective point of all going to the Yukon 
gold fields." 

Country Has Its Romance. 

And this country so wild, so new, so unexplored, so lately 
brought to the notice of the civilized world, virtually is not with- 
out its evidence of romance in the way of memorials that point 
to former activities that now no longer exist, or mark the spot 
of disaster or suffering. As far back as 1883 a forest of totem 
poles rose in the great lodges of the Stikines village. In 1893 
only a half dozen remained, and the "show pair" guarded a 
cottage which replaced the ancestral lodge. One of these guards 
relates the legends of the builder's family and the other that of 
his wife. 



202 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

Here and there on the route from southern Alaska to the gold 
fields the traveler will find similar relics, deserted hearths of a 
bygone day. This seems strange in a country so lately invaded 
by the white man. And this juxtaposition of the unknown, the 
unexplored and the relics of former peoples and former explo- 
rers will ever be a cause for wonder. 

Speaking of totem poles, it may be said that this is one of the 
favorite occupations of the Indians. The traveler will be amused at 
the totem poles which are to be found wherever an Indian village 
dots the landscape. The natives make them by cutting down a 
good sized straight tree, dressing it to the desired size and then 
carving it in a very rude way with the figures of birds, Indian 
warriors and other fantastic shapes, which very much resemble 
Chinese carvings. 

Totem Poles Come High. 

After these poles have received a sufficient amount of labor and 
skill they are raised and planted on end before the owner's huts. 
Great value is attached to some of them, and the Indians who, 
strange to say, from their uncivilized condition, are the shrewdest 
of money makers, will not infrequently ask from $1000 to $2000 
for a pole. This they consider a very reasonable price, and they 
are somewhat surprised when the traveler, who places no value 
on these rude works of art, smiles at what he deems exhorbitant 
figures which they place upon them. Mentioning the Stikines 
River naturally brings mention of the marvels of the fishing pro- 
duct of Alaska, owing to the fact that a large salmon cannery is 
located there. To one who has been accustomed to fish in 
southern waters, baiting a hook and pulling out an occasional 
fish, it would be nothing less than wonderful to sit down by the 
side of the Yukon or the Klondike or the Lewis or the Stikines 
rivers to fish for salmon. Fish not infrequently are so thick in 
these waters as virtually to impede navigation. 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 203 

Salmon make their way up the Yukon in shoals iooo or more 
miles, and are caught by the natives, or rather taken by the na- 
tives, by the ton. No Alaskan Indian would ever think of fish- 
ing with hook and line, or even spearing fish. 

They will wait until the shoals come up the river. Then par- 
ties of Indians will get on either side of the stream with branches 
of trees, sticks and the like and beat the water, thus driving the 
fish to the shallow places. Here other Indians will be stationed 
with common pitchforks, and will stick and hand out the fish in 
quantities that would make them a drug in the southern market. 
These fish are often of an exceedingly large size, and when dried 
or otherwise cured make the staple of the native diet. 

Greatest Salmon River. 

It is worthy of note as one of the wonders of Alaska that 
the country has the greatest salmon stream in the world. This 
is the Karluk River. The stream rises on the west coast of 
Kadiak, and is sixteen miles long, from ioo to 600 feet wide and 
less than six feet deep. These figures, it is pointed out, give the 
dimensions of the solid mass of salmon that used to ascent the 
Karluk to a mountain lake before canners came with gill nets in 
1884. 

The largest cannery in the world is at Karluk. There used 
to be 1 100 employes, and over 200,000 of forty-eight one- 
pound tins, containing 3,000,000 salmon, was the output. A 
single haul of the seine in this river has reached 17,000 salmon. 
Yet each ebb-tide then left thousands of stranded fish to die on 
the banks and bars. 

In the palmy days of the canning industry the canners 
enjoyed a monopoly without tax, license or any government 
interference. The nearest United States commission was 700 
miles away. Stores, employes and pack were conveyed to and 



204 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

from San Francisco in the canners' own vessels, and the hun- 
dreds of Chinese, Greek, Italian, Portugese and American work- 
men constituted the most untrammelled community anywhere 
to be found under one flag from May to September of each year. 

Won't Cure Their Catch. 

Often the supply of fish is so large that the natives will not 
even take the trouble of caring for their catch ! The fish are 
simply piled up and allowed to rot for compost. It might be 
mentioned right here that one of the favorite dishes of the native 
Alaskans would be a marvel to southerners of a more refined 
taste. They will cut off the heads of the salmon, put them in 
a hole, bury them and leave them for weeks to rot. Then there 
will be a general gathering of the clans, and the deposit of the 
fish hole will be opened, and the unsavory mess will be parceled 
out to be eaten by the natives as a delicacy. And nobody calls 
stinking fish ! 

In this wilderness of mountains, with their snow-capped 
peaks ; plains, with their almost barren and desolate features ; 
and rivers, with their almost endless, tortuous courses, where, 
until recently, and by recently one means the time of the pur- 
chase of the country from the Russians, few ever ventured, the 
traveler will be surprised at the almost utter absence of game. 
He would naturally suppose that where the white man has been 
for so short a time, would be a sportsman's heaven. The con- 
trary, however, is true. Here in this wilderness, there is almost 
an utter absence of game for the reason that the miners, who 
have been at work there, finding it impossible to get fresh meat 
from the south, and wearying of canned goods, have literally 
driven game from every locality into which they have set their 
foot. The result is somewhat curious. 

There are in Alaska districts comprising hundreds of square 



MUM 



;:■■ 



■ 1 



iis 




205 



206 A LAND OF WONDERS. 

miles that are solitudes in the strictest and truest sense of the 
word. The white men have not been induced to settle there, 
natives have moved away, and all the animals have been driven 
away to such an extent that, barring insects, there is no indica- 
tion of life in the territory. Solitude and silence reign supreme. 
If there is a sound, it is due to the wind sweeping down the 
gulleys, upturning trees or something of that sort. 

It is worthy of notice that while Alaska may, in a certain 
sense, be said to be the home of the Aurora Borealis or North- 
ern Lights, and displays are frequently seen covering the entire 
northern sky with a brilliancy of color that it would be worth 
going hundreds of miles to see, electrical storms are something 
of a rarity in Alaska. A cyclone is a thing unknown. 

Still, in the summer season the rain-fall is marked, but it 
comes without the attending electrical disturbance that is so 
common a feature in southern latitudes. This may possibly be 
due to the comparative dryness of the northern air. The dry- 
ness by the way has the effect of tempering the air and mitigat- 
ing the intense cold. 

Cold Scarcely Noticed. 

Even with the thermometer at eighty or ninety degrees below 
zero at Dawson City, Circle City or any of the other mining 
camps, the intense cold is really not noticed. It would seem 
very strange to a person used to southern weather to hear a 
native or a person who had lived for a series of years in Alaska, 
talking about its being a warm day or a mild day, with the ther- 
mometer at sixty -five below. Yet, this peculiar characteristic of 
the weather, extreme dryness with extreme cold, makes this a 
common saying among the people. 

No chapter on the Land of Wonders, as we have called 
Alaska, would be complete without reference to the mosquitos, 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 207 

which are one of the greatest nuisances of the country. The 
Yukon mosquito is a giant among insects and is king of his 
tribe. It may seem like a yarn, but it is said to be an actual 
fact that the mosquito actually hunts and kills bears along the 
Yukon River. 

Lieutenant Schwatka, the well-known explorer, who visited 
the Yukon some years ago, is authority for this statement. He 
assures us that the bears, under stress of hunger, sometimes 
come down to the river in mosquito time, and are attacked by 
the insects, who sting them about the eyes and cause them to 
go blind and die of starvation. A prominent Yukon miner, who 
has spent years in the country, has published the statement that 
he has known mosquitos to bite through a thick moose skin 
mitten. 

The natives, who are born and bred to the nuisance, are 
forced to smear themselves with grease and soot to keep off the 
pests. Often miners are forced to resort to the same expedient 
or to work with helmets of gauze to protect themselves from the 
bites. 

Natives of Great Interest. 

Apart from any consideration of scenery, industries 01 re- 
sources, the natives themselves will ever be a source of interest 
if not of wonder to the voyagers. Shrewd and enterprising in 
their way, they are yet children of nature and have all sorts of 
notions that will strike the stranger as odd if not ludicrous. 

Chatham Strait, for instance, is a playground of inferior whales, 
great totemic creatures, which the Indians believe were once 
bears, but going to sea wore off their fur on the rocks and had 
feet nibbled off by other fishes. The all-mischievous raven, they 
say, often creeps down the whale's throat, and causes such agony 
that the whale rushes to the shore and vomits the intruder on 
the beach. Paintings and carvings showing the demon in the 



208 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 



whale's body are often taken as proof that the Indians have a 
Jonah legend, and are of direct Asiatic descent. 

Another of these old Indian legends that is constantly told to 
strangers concerns the all-present glacier. They say that in 
their fathers' time, which may be taken as an indefinite or inde- 
terminate period anywhere from fifty to a thousand years, the 




SCENE IN SOUTHERN ALASKA. 

ice reached as far as Bartlett's Bay. About 1 860 it was in line with 
Willoughby Island. The Indians say that long, long ago the gla- 
cier advanced and swept away a city on the sands at the base of the 
mountains, where the Beardsley Islands now rise. They say it 
came down in a day and did not go away in ten years, and tell how 
the ice floods descended, ploughed up the fields, destroyed their 
houses, as the Gorner glacier once devastated its valley. 



A LAND OF WONDERS. 209 

Again they say, a great wave rushed in from the ocean, swept 
away the village near Bartlett's Bay, mowed down the trees with 
icebergs, and left no living thing. They say further that a 
glacier once crept down and damned up their best salmon 
stream. Two slaves were then offered up to the evil god that 
caused the mischief. 

Tell Legends as Facts. 

Legends like these, told as positive fact, coupled with odd 
ways of thought and dress and action, make the Indians an 
interesting study. They seem in a sense fitting denizens of the 
wilds of the territory. An ampler account of these Indians, 
however, will be given in the chapter on ethnology. 

In conclusion, it may be said that one of the wonders of 
Alaska is the Treadwell mine, on Douglass Island, near Juneau. 
This is the largest quartz mill in the world, and one well worthy 
of a visit from anyone wishing to know the process of operation 
followed in that particular form of mining. It should also be 
remembered that it is only a short walk from Juneau to the 
placer mines, so that those who do not wish to penetrate into 
the barren wilderness of the North in search of adventure or 
wealth, but who wish to see placer mining and know how it is 
done without the hardships incident to the long overland journey 
on snow shoes or on sledges drawn by dogs, can have their 
curiosity gratified and can gain the information desired on a jaunt 
for pleasure. 

14 



CHAPTER VI. 

Women at the Mines. 

Schemes for Obtaining Wealth — Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the Frozen 
North — The Mosquito Pest— Juneau and the Lynn Canal — Climbing the 
Mountains — Difficulties of Mining — Scarcity of Game — The Scurvy 
Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps — Female Enterprise — 
Scarcity of Amusements — Sisterhood of St. Anne — The Four-leaf Clover 
— Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance of Joseph Ladue — Women's 
Klondike Syndicate — A Lucky Seamstress. 

THE gold mines on the Klondike are not without their 
romance, and by this is meant, not the romance of specu- 
lation and adventure, but the romance of real life in 
which the gentle sex figure. The poet Compbell, years ago 
wrote the couplet : 

1 ' The world was sad ; the garden was a wild : 
And man, the hermit, sigh'd — till woman smiled." 

Some Klondike Campbell sighed, and women all over the United 
States smiled. At least they were among the first to catch the 
gold fever and brave the dangers and the hardships of the Alas- 
kan wilds. 

What is more, they contracted the craze just as badly as the 
men, and many of their enterprises and their hobbies were no 
whit less out-of-the-way and outlandish than those of their 
brethren. From Maine to California women of enterprise and 
courage, many of them of education and gentle birth, flocked to 
the North in the wild rush to secure wealth by a lucky stroke. 

Women who had never known hardship in any form, did not 
hesitate to leave comfortable homes and brave the unknown. 
From the very outset the officers of the great transportation 
companies received a numerous mail from the women of the 

210 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 211 

country, making inquiries as to the outfits necessary for them 
and the cost of transportation, and what they would likely have 
to undergo in carrying out their projects to penetrate to the inte- 
rior of the gold region. 

Women with Great Schemes. 

Many of these women came with schemes by which they 
hoped to attain wealth, not by mining and prospecting, but by 
catering to some real or fancied needs of the miners. Others 
again expressed their determination to become prospectors and 
bona fide miners. Not a few did not hesitate to admit that they 
were going to the unknown country in hopes of meeting some 
miner who had made a happy hit and amassed a fortune, whom 
they might captivate by their charms and thus secure at once 
both husband and opulence. 

Conspicuous among these women who lent the charm of their 
presence to camp life were several women of note, who, actuated 
by different motives than the great mass, made the long, perilous 
journey over the snow-clad plains and mountains, and up the 
dangerous rivers as far as Dawson City, Circle City and Klon- 
dike. Some of these had had previous experience of Alaskan 
summers and winters, and knew what it was to live in moonless 
nights and sunless days. Several of them left their homes with 
the avowed determination of wintering in the fastnesses of the 
North. 

Among these women conspicuous for their social position may 
be mentioned Mrs. Eli Gage, wife of the son of Secretary Gage 
of the United States Treasury. Mrs. Schwatka, wife of Lieu- 
tenant Schwatka, the well-known explorer, and Miss Anna Ful- 
comer, who first went to Circle City, under the auspices of the 
United States Government, to teach the Indians and gather facts 
for the Smithsonian Institution. A word from such women will 



212 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

be deemed welcome to those members of the sex who may have 
it in mind to brave the perils of the North. 

Mrs. Eli Gage came from St. Michael's on the ship which 
brought the Klondike argonauts back to civilization. Her hus- 
band, who is prominently connected with the North American 
Company, is the man who traveled 1500 miles overland last 
winter and brought out of the centre of Alaska the first reliable 
news of the wonderful strike in the Klondike region. He is a 
stockholder in many valuable claims in that vicinity. 

Mrs. Gage returned in August to the far Nortwest to join her 
husband, with whom she will spend the winter at Dawson City. 
She was accompanied by W. W. Weare, second vice-president 
of the North American Transportation and Trading Company, 
and several friends of herself and her family were in the party. 

They "went in" by way of Juneau and the Chilkoot Pass, 
the brave young wife making light of the perils incident to the 
800-mile journey over the icy mountains and in an open boat in 
Arctic weather, to join her husband at the Klondike capital. 

Voyage in a Yacht. 

A specially constructed yacht was built for the party in 
Toronto, planned and fitted out expressly for the various exigen- 
cies of the voyage from Lake Linderman to Dawson. It was 
shipped in sections to Dyea, and thence was " carried " over 
Chilkoot Pass and put together on the shores of Lake Linderman, 
whence the long water voyage began. It was provided with 
many comforts and even luxuries to make the journey as little 
like the rough, hard experiences of rafting or canoeing as possible, 
and still was far from being suggestive of the winter luxury of 
the elegantly appointed home in Chicago which Mrs. Gage 
abandoned to share with her pioneer husband the rigors of a 
close season in the polar climate of Dawson City. 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 213 

But her home on Evanston Avenue was, in her mind, at least, 
the most unimportant of the many things Mrs. Gage left behind 
her in Chicago when she started on the year-long trip into the 
northern wilderness. Her fifteen-months' old baby was thought 
too young to undertake the hard, hazardous journey, and was left 
with friends while the young mother hastened off to the Klondike 
to be once more with her husband. When she sees her darling 
again the baby lips will have learned the use of speech to wel- 
come her, and the tiny feet will know how to fly to greet her 

coming. 

Tells of the Gold. 

In speaking of her trip down on the Portland in July, Mrs. 
Gage said : 

" It is almost impossible to tell how much money the Portland 
brought into the States. The boat was filled with returning 
miners and prospectors, and the smallest deposit in the ship's 
safe was $15,000 in dust and nuggets. There were many others 
— so many that the captain's room was like the treasure store of 
a king. It was literally filled with gold in all forms, and while I 
sat in the midst of the wealth it occured to me that the old trade 
of buccaneering had missed a rare chance in not waiting by the 
sea road for this load of gold. 

Mrs. Gage says there is a wonderful quantity of gold in the 
Yukon field and any man who has $500 for "grub-staking" a 
claim need have no fear in going to the Klondike region in hopes 
of a rich harvest, for he is sure of gaining it. 

Even though a man go poorly equipped and supplied, he rarely 
receives poor treatment from the hands of his neighbors, and 
may find plenty of work to do which will enable him to earn 
from $ 1 5 to $ 1 7 per day. 

Mrs. Gage speaks well of the people who make up the popu- 
lation, dwelling on the fact that they are a class who may be 



214 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

trusted, and that they form a desirable community. The valley 
of the Yukon is not populated with such men as constitute a 
large part of western mining camps. 

One thing Mrs. Gage particularly emphasizes. It is that there 
is absolutely no truth in the report of famine. It has been said 
that starvation would overtake many who went to Alaska this 
fall, but Mrs. Gage is firm in her belief that enough supplies are 
being taken from Seattle and San Francisco by the two trading 
companies in Alaska. 

"Those in charge of the business of these concerns," she said, 
" are making ample preparations for the coming winter. They 
fear no famine, and the individual miners are taking advice and 
are already supplying themselves with necessities. There is gold 
enough in Alaska for everyone." 

Reverting again to the marvelous golden treasures of Alaska, 
Mrs. Gage said with enthusiasm : 

" Four great Alaskan miners came down with us, and a more 
than interesting sight was to go down into the great safe on the 
ship and see the bags of gold dust. There have been many for- 
tunes found in Alaska, yet there is gold enough to satisfy every- 
one. 

" Mr. Gage is at Dawson and will not return until spring. He 

is constantly busy and likes the life. Since my arrival in Seattle 

I heard that a man whom he had ' grub-staked ' has dug up gold 

worth $35,000 in three months on a small claim. If a man goes 

out there without money he can very soon earn it, for wages 

paid, even for common labor, in all the region range from $15 

to $17 per day." 

No Fear of the Trip. 

Just before leaving Chicago for Dawson City, Mrs. Gage said : 

" My husband and I were separated over a year, and he spent 

the time in a log cabin at Circle City while I lived in Chicago. 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 215 

This year I have decided to go to him. I am not afraid of the 
trip. I have been to Alaska and I know the stories of hardship 
are much exaggerated. If one is well prepared for the journey 
there is really no great danger. There is no use for doctors in 
Alaska." 

Mrs. Gage is not a large women, but she said she never enjoyed 
better health than in Alaska, despite the cold. 

" It is such a dry cold one hardly feels it," she said. " And 
I am not at all afraid. Women are always safe in the Yukon. 
Although beer and liquors are sold, the men are rarely disord- 
erly and those who do become outrageous are quickly put in 
order by the majority. Dress, employment and other circum- 
stances make the men of the Yukon often to look and seem 
uncouth and coarse, but at heart they are noblemen, and this is 
in no way more agreeably shown than by their courteous and 
gentle treatment of women. But women going to the Klondike 
must make up their minds to live in a primitive way, and be pre- 
pared to endure hardships incident to a new anc \ Arctic country." 

Mrs. Gage's Outfit. 

Mrs. Gage's outfit in many things is like that ot a man going 
in to " rough it" in the wilderness, and her brother, of course, 
looked out for the food supplies for the journey. Yet, it may 
be of interest to women who think of going to the Klondike 
overland to know that this dainty daughter of wealth carried for 
daily wear two short heavy skirts of waterproof cloth made a 
la bicycle skirt, a heavy fur coat, warmly lined and with pockets 
enough for a man, besides a lined hood attachment to be drawn 
over the head and face in cold or stormy weather, several pairs 
of stout boots, warm leggings and overshoes, a mackintosh and 
a fleece-lined sleeping-bag. Then there was plenty of the soft- 
est, warmest underwear in the hamper, and at Juneau Mrs. Gage 



216 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

will supply herself with reindeer hide boots, made with the 
soft down inside, long, tight and loose, which will answer either 
to keep out the water in case of accident necessitating wading 
ashore or during a possible wet experience on a portage or 
going over the Chilkoot Pass, or to keep out the cold if at any 
time the more civilized boots and leggings fail to meet the 
demands of the Arctic temperature. 

" Not a powder-box nor a curling-iron the outfit," Mrs. Gage 
said, with a merry laugh, as she enumerated the list of her bag- 
gage, or " luggage," as she preferred to term it, not inappro- 
priately, because it would have to be " lugged " so far and often, 
" and only a small hand-mirror. Women don't have to ' dress 
up ' to be appreciated on the Yukon, I assure you." 

Mrs. Schwatka no Novice. 

Mrs. Frederick Schwatka was no novice in Alaskan experi- 
ences. She had been there with her husband and had been over 
much of the ground that it is necessary for the prospectors to 
traverse on their way from the coast to the gold fields. She 
was fairly familiar with the various routes commonly followed 
by explorers and miners, and she expressed herself to the effect 
that the Taku Pass would prove to be a bonanza to the first 
trading company that established a system of pack trains from 
the Taku Inlet through to Juneau, which is the base of supplies 
for the mining region. 

Besides being the easiest route for the miners themselves, it 
was, she thought, preferable, because a shallow draft steamer 
could be brought to run on the Taku river, which would leave 
only ninety miles of land to be crossed to get to Juneau. 

Mrs. Schwatka, in discussing the difficulties of the journey 
from southern Alaska north, said that her husband had explored 
the Taku River and Pass a number of years ago and that he tried 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 217 

to get the people of Juneau to establish a pack train line through 
the pass to connect with a steamboat on the inlet. That, she 
said, was before there was much travel through Juneau. The 
people of the then thriving village did not believe that it would 
be a success financially. 

Grounds for Her Belief. 

Now she thought there was no doubt whatever that it would 
be a paying venture and would be a boon to the multitude of 
people who were pressing on to the gold fields. Said she : 

" In fact, the pass contains an excellent railroad grade, and it 
would cost a comparatively small sum to build and equip a road 
through the ninety miles between Juneau and the inlet. The 
current of the river is strong and there are frequent floods, but 
a light draft steamer would have no difficulty in ascending it and 
making connections with the road to Juneau. It would be an 
easy matter to get supplies from Juneau then. The Canadian 
Pacific comes so near to that country it seems as if it could 
profitably build a line through the pass and connect the two 
branches by steamer. 

" Lieutenant Schwatka made a map of the region, which I 
think I shall have published. He made the trip up the river by 
canoe and reported the current there very swift and strong. I 
am certain that the Taku route is the easiest for persons going 
from Juneau, however." 

Mrs. Schwatka, like most people who have had any lengthy 
experience in Alaska, had much to say of the great territorial 
pest, the mosquitos. This nuisance — not nuisance, evil is a bet- 
ter word — cannot be overlooked by those who purpose to leave 
the States for the plains and mountains cf Alaska. 

" The pest," said she, " is not so observable, of course, very early 
in the spring or late in the fall, but during the mining months the 



218 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

mosquitos are simply intolerable. The Indians even, who are 
hardened to them, have to go about in summer with their hands 
and faces smeared with pitch and lampblack. The ordinary 
mosquito netting is no protection whatever, because the mosquitos 
force their way through it. 

Mosquito Bites Fatal. 

" Many of the miners, in addition to adopting the plan of the 
Indians and anointing themselves with pitch and lampblack, work 
in summer with their heads in a wire frame covered with close 
netting. I have even known persons to die merely from the 
bites of the mosquitos. 

" This is something for the women who purpose to try their 
fortunes in the gold fields to take into consideration. They will 
find it is no place, either in summer or winter, for either the 
dress or manners to which they have been accustomed in their 
southern homes. 

" Imagine, for instance, a society belle, or a woman who has 
had gentle rearing and been accustomed all her life to the ordi- 
nary convenience and comforts of civilized life, going into the 
wilderness of a country about which we know very little, don- 
ning the costume largely of the natives and subjecting themselves 
to all the hardships and privations necessarily incident to a resi- 
dence in that country. Especially imagine such a woman smear- 
ing her face with soot and grease by way of cosmetic and wearing 
over her coiffure a helmet that would put to the blush in point of 
looks and inconvenience the shields commonly worn by the men 
who stand behind the bat in the game of base ball." 

Speaking from personal experience, Mrs. Schwatka continued : 

" In the summer it is so hot in the river regions that even 
the moose are driven away, and it is practically impossible to 
get game there, in spite of the reports that are sent out. It will 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 219 

not take a very great increase in the white population to kill off 
all the game there is. The Indians are pretty careful and don't 
kill any more than they need for food, but it will not be that way 
with the whites. 

" The salmon do not ascend the Yukon as far as the Klon- 
dike, either, and fishing in that region is not nearly as good as 
it is made out to be. It would be taking a great risk to go 
there depending much on the natural resources of the country 
for food. 

" Prospecting in Alaska is altogether different from what it 
was in California. There is as much difference between the 
mountains in Alaska and the most mountainous parts of Cali- 
fornia as there is between the latter and the Indiana avenue 
pavement. California is a flat plain compared with it. All of 
the Indians up there die of consumption, partly brought on by 
the climate and partly by the hardships they have to endure. 

Steps in the Ice. 

" Why, I have seen these Indians, who are used to the coun- 
try, come in with packs from the very same passes which the 
miners are now crossing with welts across their backs from the 
pack straps almost as thick as my wrist. Their hands would be 
torn and lacerated horribly. The only way they can get through 
at all in the winter is by cutting steps in the ice." 

Mrs. Schwatka gave many interesting recollections of what 
she had experienced and witnessed irt Alaska. Adverting to 
the climate she continued : 

" About the middle of August heavy frosts kill all vegetation, 
and the country begins this early to take on an Arctic aspect. 
Furious gales begin to blow from the north, which continue 
with little cessation all winter. In September or October, at the 
latest, the river is frozen hard, and sledging, as in the Arctic, is 



220 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

the only mode of travel in the country until the great spring 
freshets in May set the rivers free. As you can readily see, the 
journey to the gold fields by this route is not only a very long 
one, but a very expensive one, and wholly impracticable for 
numbers in winter. The average miner and prospector must 
enter Alaskan fields by a shorter and more accessible route, 
even though the hardships encountered are greater. 

For a number of years past, miners going to and from the 
placer gold fields at Forty-Mile Creek, now Dawson City, and 
Circle City, have used the Chilkoot Pass, outfitting at Juneau, 
the principal town of the territory. The Chilka and White 
Passes have never been as popular with the miners as the Chil- 
koot. Therefore, I shall speak of the Chilkoot, as they are all 
quite similar. 

" From Juneau the Lynn Canal is entered at Chilkat Harbor. 
This is the most northerly channel in the inland passage route. 
This Lynn Canal is divided by a long peninsula. The southern 
side is Chilkat and the northern Chilkoot. It is up Chilkoot 
Inlet miners ascend, and thence canoe up a rapid, glacier-fed 
mountain stream known as the Dayay. They are then at the 
foot, or near the foot, of the great pass. This so-called pass is 
really no pass at all, but a precipitous climb of over 3500 feet up 
bare, rugged rocks, and over great snow peaks, and across 
treacherous glacier ice. 

Must Climb by Hand. 

" So steep is the ascent that the hands of the climbers must 
be used to help pull themselves up. No white man can carry 
unaided the necessary amount of provisions and material required 
even to keep him from starvation until he can reach the mines. 
For this reason they rarely make the journey alone, but always 
in parties. 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 221 

" It is necessary to bargain with the Chilkat Indians to act as 
porters and carriers over the trail. They have in the past car- 
ried loads of i oo pounds at from $10 to $15 a load. These 
they take over the dangerous and difficult trail to the top of the 
mountains or down to the first lake, which forms the source of 
the great Yukon River. Here again obstacles are met with, and 
it now becomes necessary to build a whipsawed boat, and the 
little timber to be found is unsatisfactory and stunted." 

Mrs. Schwatka had also much to say of the prospects of the 
people who went there and what they would have to expect. 
She was satisfied that there were great hopes for the man of 
pluck, energy and perseverance ; but she was also convinced that 
it was policy even for people of this stamp to go expecting worse 
than had commonly been represented at the time when she was 
interviewed. Said she : 

" I believe that a great deal of gold is going to be found along 
White River also. That is in Alaska, and not much prospecting 
has been done there yet, I understand. When I was last in 
Alaska, five years ago, the so-called ' Klondike ' was an unknown 
and untalked of region and almost unheard of. Lieutenant 
Schwatka explored the country, and brought back a good many 
photographs and maps of it which are very interesting. I believe 
the Klondike is nothing more than a little creek, which, as it was 
about the first place in that region where gold was found, gave 
its name to the whole region, and has assumed the importance 
of the Yukon River itself in the eyes of the people who read 
about it. 

" I have already spoken of the lack of work during the long 
winter season. It must not be understood that no work can be 
done, then, for many miners spend the winter prospecting in 
places where it would be impracticable in summer. On some 
submerged bar they build a fire, and when it burns down they 



222 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

pick and shovel out the gravel as far as the warmth has penetra- 
ted. This is repeated until they sink a shaft to bedrock. In 
summer the water pouring through the loose gravel prevents 
deep shafting except by expensive works. 

Mining Very Difficult. 

" Again in summer the work of the miner is difficult. As I 
have said, the interior country is tundra land — that is, the earth 
is frozen to a great depth, never entirely thawing out. Wherever 
the sun strikes the surface great pools of muddy water are 
formed, and this prevents any sort of prospecting. These pools 
of stagnant water breed great swarms of mosquitos and gnats, 
which make it desirable to cover the head with mosquito netting, 
or, better still, adopt the Indian method, and smear the hands 
and face with a mixture of grease and soot, which prevents the 
pests from biting. 

"At some seasons in this country they are in such dense 
swarms that at night they will practically cover a mosquito net- 
ting fairly touching each other, and crowding through any kind 
of mesh. I have heard it asserted by people of experience that 
they form co-operative societies and assist each other through 
the meshes by pushing behind and pulling in front. Others again 
say they are too mean for such generous action." 

In Mrs. Schwatka's opinion, Juneau was bound to be the most 
important trading centre of Alaska for the mining district, and 
she thought that it was eminently desirable that capitalists with 
the means at their disposal should take steps without delay to 
make more sure and ample the food supply of the Yukon Val- 
ley. The main reason why she insisted on this was, that the 
game had largely been driven away from the mining districts 
and that it was a menace to the health of those who had cour- 
age to penetrate the wilds to have to live week after week and 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 223 

month after month on dried fish, as the Indians do, or on canned 
goods exclusively. 

Speaking of the scarcity of game in the Yukon Valley, Mrs. 
Schwatka said : 

The great Yukon Valley has but little game in it during the 
summer, for the mosquitos drive all game to higher altitudes. 
Formerly during the winter season a living could be made by 
experienced hunters in bringing moose and caribou meat to 
camp. I heard one miner say, who had spent four winters on 
the Yukon, that he had seen moose and caribou so numerous 
on the bald hills above timber limit, in the present gold-field 
district that they gave the snow a mottled gray appearance. 

'* Of course these have now disappeared with the advance of 
civilization, and fresh meat of any kind is now at a premium. 
To illustrate how abundant this game was but a few years ago, a 
hunter captured a couple of young moose and they were made 
great pets among the miners during the long winter. 

"This scarcity of game of all kinds," continued Mrs. Schwatka, 
"coupled with the great number of people entering the country, 
will in the near future be productive of great suffering, unless 
positive and decisive steps are taken to make the food supply 
ample and sure, as I have said. Tin and canned goods are very 
high in price, and it seems a wrong to the miners that, for a lack 
of ample transportation facilities, which, in my opinion, might be 
easily provided, they are subjected to the dangers of the diet 
they have to put up with. 

Scurvy a Terror. 

" Scurvy is one of the greatest evils of camp life, and this is 
engendered and fostered by the diet the men and women in 
the Klondike region have thus far had to endure. It is only 
a hearty man who, in face of the hardships and privations 



224 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

to which the mining community is subjected, can survive 
the six or eight months of dim twilight of the winter season, 
with the thermometer ranging anywhere from forty to ninety 
degrees below zero." 

Mrs. Schwatka thought that great care should be taken by 
those who tempted fortune in the wilds of Alaska in the 
matter of providing a suitable outfit. She was convinced 
that a great many had gone and would likely go, who were 
little fitted to the experiences they would have to face, but, 
said she : 

" Those who are determined to go should not only take the 
necessary winter clothing, but be prepared to invest in Arctic 
furs — a reindeer coat, suitable boots and leggings, and a fur 
sleeping bag. Skins of the temperate zone do not make the 
best clothing for this purpose. A reindeer sleeping bag will keep 
one warm in the severest weather and is a necessity, especially 
if one is to try to pass the winter in a tent, as I have heard 
many will do. 

" Even the Indians of the country take extra precautions in 
preparing their lodges in winter, building houses of brush and 
logs. With proper clothing and plenty of nutritious food the 
problem in this land is easily solved." 

Warning to the Sex. 

In conclusion Mrs. Schwatka wished earnestly to give warning 
to her sisters who were likely to seek their fortunes in the 
unknown country. She said she did not wish to discourage 
those who thought it to their interest to brave the perils, but 
considering all things, and speaking from her own hard experi- 
ence, she thought that the average woman would find it more to 
her interest, and certainly more to her comfort, to leave the 
dangers incident to the extremes of climate, dangers of diet, and 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 225 

hardships of travel to the men, who are better able naturally to 
support what will have to be undergone. Said she : 

" To keep from freezing it requires the same sort of clothing 
that the Arctic explorers wear — all furs and no woolens. The 
fur coats are made by the Esquimeaux from skins brought over 
from Siberia, and it is likely that they will cost a great deal more 
than they ever did before. 

"Alaska isapoor place forwomenand noplace atall for children. 
Of course, many women are able to endure hardships and fatigue 
just as well as the men, and it might not be so bad for them to 
go there in summer. It is a fearfully hard life there at best." 

Miss Anna Fulcomer, like Mrs. Schwatka, has had a former 
experience in Alaska. She is of Norse descent, and is thoronghly 
imbued with all her race's traditional love of adventure. As 
said above, she went to Alaska on her second trip as a Govern- 
ment employe, receiving a good salary and being screened from 
many of the hardships to which other women who went to the 
Alaskan gold mines were subjected. But she, like the rest, 
became touched with the craze for gold, and determined to leave 
her school in Circle City, which, soon after the Klondike fever 
broke out, became virtually a deserted town, and try her 
fortunes with the rest of the prospectors. 

Got a Man for Nothing. 

So she hired a dog for $30, agreeing to pay $75 if anything 
happened to the animal, and had a man thrown in for nothing. 
A few days after her determination to quit Circle City, she was 
on the trail of the gold-seeking throng. It did not take her a 
great while to discover that it is not all gold that glitters, and 
before she had been many days on her enterprise her hopes were 
a good deal like Alaskan weather, so far below zero, that she 
could scarcely read the thermometer. Some of her experiences 
15 



226 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

can best be told in her own language. Said she relative to the 
difficulties of beginning her enterprise : 

"A dog, a dog, my kingdom for a dog," is the general cry 
here. Horses have practically proved a failure here as a means 
of transportation. They have to be housed in tents in which a 
fire is kept. The dogs, however, live on next to nothing, and 
often make quite astonishing time. We had a visitor at the 
house I am living in, some time ago, who came on a dog sledge 
eighty miles in nineteen hours, without once stopping. Another 
man came here 240 miles in five days. 

" The relative value placed on men and dogs is shown by the 
fact that I could get an experienced man for my trip to Klondike 
for nothing, but had to pay $30 rental for a dog, and had to 
make a contract to pay $75 if anything happened to the animal. 
The hopes of hundreds here rest on their ability to get a bob- 
tailed dog. When I set out on my gold-finding enterprise I 
found that my case was not an exception." 

Good Word for Morals. 

Miss Fulcomer has a very good word to say for the morals of 
the Klondike mining camps. During her year of residence at 
Circle City she knew of no murder being committed, and of very 
little lawlessness of any sort. The miners, she said, practically 
make a law unto themselves, and woe betide the man rash 
enough or dishonest enough to violate the unwritten code. 
Continuing, she said : 

"One of the peculiar features of the new camp is the lack of 
shooting, due to the fact that the Canadian government does not 
permit men to carry firearms. Police disarm miners when they 
enter the district, so that there is not any of the lawlessness and 
crime which marked early placer mining in California. There is 
much gambling and play is high. 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 227 

" ' Lawyers and other disturbers of the peace ' are kept out, 
and this is the reason assigned for the quiet and order that 
prevail. 

" The camps are in no sense to be compared with the camps 
in California during the gold fever there," says Miss Fulcomer. 
" Their inaccessibility in a large measure protects them from 
desperate characters. It is a 900-mile trip over the snow from 
Juneau to the gold fields, and it is a hardy person who would 
enter upon a trip that none but Arctic explorers ordinarily would 
undertake. The climate, too, makes living out of doors impos- 
sible, and it costs money to live under shelter. These condi- 
tions, as you will readily understand, help to keep away mere 

adventurers. 

Side-tracked in Desolation. 

" But it is a dreary place to be side-tracked in. The average 
miner and prospector is buoyed up by the knowledge that there 
is gold in abundance on the Yukon, and the hope that he may 
make a fortune quickly. For the rest of one's personal experi 
ence, the less glowing accounts that are given the better." 

Like Mrs. Schwatka, Miss Fulcomer wished to emphasize the 
fact that Alaska in the mining regions is anything but a paradise. 
She said she pitied the people who came there under the delusion 
that mining life there was anything to be compared with that 
which obtained in California in the days of the gold excitement 
in that State. There were only four months in the year, she 
said — May, June, July and August — when mining was possible, 
and even then the ground thawed no more than two or three 
inches. The rest of the time the soil was virtually like a solid 
rock, and to make matters worse the thermometer was likely to 
be from ninety to ninety-five degrees below zero. 

" One of the great causes of suffering here," she said, " is 
that Americans put on their heaviest clothing almost as soon as 



228 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

they get here. The result is that when regular winter weather 
sets in and the thermometer gets down to eighty or ninety degrees 
below zero, they nearly perish. This, with the difficulty of get- 
ting good, fresh, wholesome living, makes the Yukon gold region 
anything but an Eldorado. 

" This," Miss Fulcomer explains, " is not because there is not 
gold at Klondike — there is gold in abundance, dirt rich enough 
on some claims to yield from $100 to $500 per pan; but it is 
mined with difficulty, mined in a small way, mined slowly, so 
that for the average experienced digger the profits are swallowed 
up in the expenses. Men who have been mining at other points 
in Alaska and the British Dominion virtually abandoned their 
old claims, owing to the craze over Klondike, hurried there and 
staked off their claims, and are holding or working them. This 
was early in the movement, and consequently newcomers have 
to be content with the leavings of the old men in the work." 

First to Cross the Divide. 

Dawson City at the time the Klondike fever broke out in its 
full intensity, had a population of 2500 souls, and of these only 
thirty-three were women. To Mrs. Tom Lippy belongs the 
unique distinction of being the first to cross the divide and go 
into the new Klondike camp. She is described as a little, lithe, 
brown-haired, brown-eyed woman, to whom fear is practically 
unknown. Unlike many of the women in the camp, she, for a 
long time clung to her costume of civilization, dressed neatly 
and even stylishly. She followed her husband and her husband's 
fortunes, and did not think she was doing anything out of the 
way in braving the same perils he was obliged to face. Said she, 
when asked about her trip and her life in the gold region : 

" I was the first white woman on the creek and the only one 
in our camp. There was another one mile from us, Mrs. Berry. 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 229 

She was the only white woman I had to speak to while we were 
at camp. When we got to Eldorado Creek we lived in a tent 
until Mr Lippy got our log cabin built. It is twelve feet by 
eight, eight logs high, with mud and moss roof and moss between 
the chinks, and has a door and window. Mr. Lippy made the 
furniture — a rough bed, table, and some stools. We had a 
stove — there are plenty of stoves in that country — and that was 
all we needed. The cabin was cozy and warm. I looked after 
the housekeeping and Mr. Lippy after the mining. 

" Everything we had to eat was canned. Things were canned 
that I never knew could be canned before. Of course, we 
missed fresh food dreadfully, but we kept well and strong. We 
had no fresh milk or meats or fruits or eggs. 

Dearth of Amusements. 

" Amusements ? Well, nobody bothered much about amuse- 
ments. Everyone was busy and kept busy all the time. I did 
my work. Mining is hard work — one doesn't pick gold off the 
ground. It is genuine toil, and when Mr. Lippy finished he 
wanted to rest. All men were about alike on that point. 

" Fashion ? Well, we were not entirely cut off from the fash- 
ionable world. People were coming in all the time. We got 
fashion papers, a few months old, to be sure, but still they kept 
us fairly up to time." 

Most people who have taken interest in the report of the Klon- 
dike region will remember Joseph Ladue, who owns the site of 
Dawson City. On returning to Plattsburg, New York, early 
last August Mr. Ladue had some interesting gossip about women 
at the mining camps. Several of those who had faced the dan- 
gers of the journey to Klondike, he said, were doing well and 
would likely be large gainers by their enterprise. Said he : 

" There are women there who own property. Susie Lamar is 



230 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

one. She is a single woman who came from Germany. She 
has been cooking for me and my partner. I guess she has done 
pretty well. I pay her $40 a month right along. 

" Lottie Barnes also owns property there. She came over the 
divide two years ago and settled on Second avenue. She was 
formerly in Circle City. 

" There is also a Mrs. Willis, who has quite a history. She 
went in with my party two years ago. In the party were Ellis 
Turner, from Schuyler Falls ; William Lamay, George Mulligan 
and myself. She joined our party at Juneau, where she had been 
working in the laundry. She is about forty-five years old, a 
blonde, stout and rugged. She pulled her own sled weighing 
250 pounds from Lake Linderman through to Lake Labarge, 
about 700 miles. 

Women of Enterprise. 

" Before she came there she was stewardess on the steamer 
Willipaw, when I first met her. She went first to Circle City, 
where she started a laundry and bake shop. She did pretty 
well. I think she got fifty cents a loaf for bread — pound loaves 
made from wheat flour. She went out two years ago as a nurse 
for the steamship company. I think she went as far as San 
Francisco. She returned the next spring. That time she 
brought in herself, with the aid of two dogs, about 750 pounds, 
including a sewing machine. 

" That was not the first sewing machine brought in. Mrs. 
Behan, wife of a banana trader, brought in the first machine about 
twenty years before. Two years ago I suppose there were prob- 
ably forty or fifty sewing machines in the country. 

" There were pianos there. The pianos and organs were 
principally in the dance-houses and theatres at Circle City." 

Klondike is not much of a place, as the reader will readily 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 231 

understand, for style, but once in awhile there is a " boiled shirt " 
to be seen there, and to Mrs. J. P. Wills, of Tacoma, is due the 
honor of introducing the first one. She is described as a women 
of iron will, whose husband is a gun or locksmith and virtually 
a cripple from rheumatism. His illness made it impossible for 
him to undergo the dangers of the journey and penetrate to the 
frozen North, but his wife said she would go for him, and go she 
did. 

She settled at one of the mining camps and for two years made 
so little money that she was practically disheartened. Then the 
Klondike mines were discovered and Mrs. Wills was among the first 
to join a party of cattle men and hurry to the new region. She 
began her career in Alaska as a washerwoman ; then she went 
to work as a cook for the Alaska Commercial Company, at Daw- 
son City, and received fifteen dollars a day for her services. 

Her Experience a Romance. 

When she joined the throng heading for Klondike she asserted 
her determination to abandon the work she had been doing and 
take a claim. She did so, and in a few weeks struck it so rich 
that instead of being a poor washerwoman she was worth a 
quarter of a million dollars. 

While doing washing Mrs. Wills introduced the first " boiled 
shirt" into the Yukon gold camp and paid $2.50 for the box of 
starch with which she starched it. Her first assistant in the 
laundry was a squaw, to whom Mrs. Wills paid four dollars a 
day and board. Her little log cabin cost her thirty-five dollars a 
month and her supply of wood for the winter cost $225. A 
twenty-five-cent washboard cost her six times that amount, and, 
while she made a small fortune washing and baking bread, Mrs. 
Wills complains that the trading company got most of it. Mrs. 
Wills parts her hair on the side like a man and is stout and jolly. 



232 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

She is fifty years of age and is industrious and a good business woman. 
The Catholic Church has long had a representation in the 
frozen wilds of the North, but almost immediately when the 
Klondike gold fields were discovered, two Sisters of Mercy, 
young women from Lachine, in the Province of Quebec, headed 
their way for San Francisco on their errand of mercy, braving all 
the severities of an Arctic winter, that they might render such 
service in the camp life that might be demanded of them. The 
two young women belonged to the Sisterhood of St. Anne. 
When they started they did not expect to be able to go any fur- 
ther than St. Michael's, completing the journey at the earliest 
possible moment. 

Mercy Their Motive. 

When the girls started there were already thirteen sisters of 
the Order of St. Anne in Alaska, some at St. Michael's, others 
at Holy Cross and St. Joseph, and the remainder at Circle City. 
At this latter town the sisters run a hospital, and it was to work 
in the hospital for a time and then push on farther into the wil- 
derness that these two brave young women undertook their haz- 
ardous journey. 

Importation of young women into Northern Alaska as wives 
for the miners is the project one elderly dame laid before the 
officials of the North American Transportation and Trading 
Company. She figured that at least 2000 of the 10,000 hardy 
prospectors in the Klondike would like to get married right away 
and would be willing to pay a good price for the proper kind of 
helpmeets. 

" I am organizing a company," she said, " and want your 
indorsement. You can make money off the transportation and 
board of the women, and the commissions from the miners will 
insure my company a big profit. Now, I want you to take some 
of the stock in pay for the passage of myself and two or three 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 233 

agents while we run up there to make arrangements and — ." 
But Mr. Weare shut her off and made his escape. 

Charlotte Smith, the Eastern sociologist, wants to transplant 
4000 or more working women from sweatshops and factories to 
Klondike camps. Hers is not a money-making scheme — she is 
laboring solely in what she thinks the best interests of humanity. 
Transposition from a life of drudgery, with a bare pittance in the 
way of wages, to homes in Alaska would, in Miss Smith's 
opinion, be a blessing which thousands of women would be 
glad to embrace. To carry out her plans funds are needed, but no 
big subscriptions thus far have been reported. In the meantime 
an enrollment is going on of those women who are willing to 
take their chances in the frozen North. 

Went for Business. 

Another woman wanted to get $2000 to use in organizing a 
company to locate gold placer claims. She was endowed with 
powers of clairvoyance and could unerringly point out hidden 
deposits of precious metals. She had done so with great suc- 
cess in California and Colorado, and would now like to try her 
hand in Alaska. Suggestion that clairvoyance should enable 
her to pick out a backer was taken as a personal insult, and she 
departed in high dudgeon. 

There is a touch of romance and good fortune in the story of 
Mrs. Capt. Healy. She went to the Klondike region a poor 
woman and soon became a mine owner. Opposite the Klondike 
River on the rocky cliffs that project into the Yukon is the 
pioneer quartz mine of the country. It was at this point that 
what is known as the great copper belt crosses the river. Cap- 
tain Healy of the North American Transportation and Trading 
Company, a couple of years ago, located on a ledge after a very 
superficial examination of it. 



234 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

Quartz mines were at that time practically ignored, and after 
a while the captain forgot the circumstance of his owning a 
claim, and made a trip on the company's business to Sixty- Mile. 
It was on this trip that he recalled the circumstance of his own- 
ing the claim, and, while passing it, made the remark : 

" It's good-looking rock," said the captain, " but I don't think 
I will bother with it. There will be plenty of time for consider- 
ing quartz." 

"Aren't you going to claim it?" asked Mrs. Healy. 

" No ; I don't care to bother with it — not now." 

" If you don't want it, I do. I will locate it and pay for the 
assessment work." 

" Well, it's your mine, then." 

Mrs. Healy Begins Work. 

And so Mrs. Healy re-located it, and they set a man to work 
out the first assessment and took samples of the ore. Mrs. 
Healy named it the Four-Leaf Clover, so if anyone sees it 
quoted in the mining exchanges, away up pretty high, he may 
know it is her mine. 

They gave the samples to the assay er, and they show from $8 
to $16 to the ton in gold, in addition to a good percentage in 
copper. The vein is eighty feet wide. 

Early in August, Miss Georgia Osborne, of Jacksonville, 111., a 
miss of twenty-two summers, accompanied by Mrs. M. L. 
Keiser, of the same place, set out for the Klondike diggings. 
Mrs. Keiser said she had scaled the Alps and knew how to 
rough it, but Miss Osborne had had no experience of that sort, 
but was brave enough to face the dangers without question. 

Miss Mary Elizabeth Mellor, Superintendent of the United 
States Indian Training School at Unalaska, Alaska, took a trip 
to the Klondike regions, and for a time experienced all the 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 235 

dangers and hardships of camp life. She returned to Seattle on 
the steamer Portland, early in July of the present year, and in 
speaking of the short summers and long winters of the northern 
wilds, of the scarcity of food and inadequacy of the clothing 
supply, touched upon the hardships of the miners and said 
their sufferings were often something terrible. She said : 

"When I left flour was selling at the rate of $50 a sack, 
and if the luxury of eggs was indulged in the consumers paid 
$4 per dozen. Then it must be remembered that each egg of 
the twelve was not what a Pennsylvania farmer would consider 
freshly laid. Clothing is also hard to obtain and is high in price, 
the majority of the gold-seekers wearing clothes made of coarse 
woolen blankets." 

Romance of Courtship. 

Clarence J. Berry is commonly called the Barney Barnato of 
the Klondike, and his bride the belle of the mining district. The 
couple made one of the most fortunate strikes at the dig- 
gings. He took out $130,000 from the top dirt of one of his 
claims in five months, all of which was clear profit, barring 
$22,000 which he paid to his miners. His wife, the bride of but 
a short time, was equally as energetic and fortunate. She had 
her own claim and is reported to have lifted out $10,000 or 
more in her spare moments. 

Berry and his wife went to the Klondike on their honeymoon. 
They were gone but fifteen months, came back wealthy to San 
Francisco, the happy possessors of claims that are supposed to 
be worth millions of dollars. And behind these millions of dol- 
lars there is a pretty romance which is worth relating : 

Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern part of California. 
He did not have any money. There was no particular prospect 
that he would ever have any. He saw a life of hard plodding 



236 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

for a bare living. There was no opportunity at home for get- 
tiug ahead, and, like other men of the far West, he only dreamed 
of the day when he would make a strike and get his million. 

This was three years ago. There had then come down from 
the frozen lands of Alaska wonderful stories of rewards for men 
brave enough to run a fierce ride with death from starvation and 
cold. He had nothing to lose and all to gain. He concluded 
to face the dangers. 

His capital was $40. He proposed to risk it all — not very 
much to him now, but a mighty sight three years ago. It took 
all but five dollars to get him to Juneau. He had two big arms, 
the physique of a giant and the courage of an explorer. Pre- 
senting all these as his only collaterals, he managed to squeeze 
a loan of $60 from a man who was afraid to go with him, but 
was willing to risk a little in return for a promise to pay back 
the advance at a fabulous rate of interest. 

Pluck Carried Him Through. 

Juneau at that time was alive with men who had heard from 
the Indians of rich finds of gold, and had seen samples of the 
rock and sand which they had brought. A party of forty men 
was formed and Berry was one of the forty. Each took a com- 
plete outfit and a year's mess of frozen meat and sufficient furs, 
packed the stuff to the top of the Chilkoot Pass and pushed on 
toward the interior. Thirty-seven of the forty turned back in 
despair, but Berry was one of the three who had pluck enough 
to hold out, he being obliged to borrow bacon and other sup- 
plies to get through, and landing at the diggings without a cent 
in his pocket. 

He reached Forty-Mile within a month and began work at 
$100 a month. He soon secured a claim and on finding him- 
self on the highway to wealth sent word to Miss Ethel D. Bush, 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 237 

to whom he was engaged, telling her of his good fortune and 
holding her to her pledge. Berry then went for his bride, and 
soon the couple were on their way back to the diggings. 

They both decided it was worth the try — success at a bound 
rather than years of common toil. Berry declared he knew 
exactly where he could find a fortune. Mrs. Berry convinced 
him that she would be worth more to him in his venture than 
any man that ever lived. Furthermore, the trip would be a 
bridal tour which would certainly be new and far from the 
beaten tracks of sighing lovers. 

A Remarkable Bridal Trip. 

Mr. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau fifteen months ago. They 
had but little capital, but they had two hearts that were full of 
determination. They took the boat to Dyea, the head of navi- 
gation. The rest of the distance — and distances in Alaska are 
long — was made behind a team of dogs. They slept under a 
tent on beds of boughs. 

Mrs. Berry wore garments which resembled very much those 
of her husband. They came over her feet like old-fashioned 
sandals, and did not stop at her knees. They were made of seal 
fur, with the fur inside. She pulled gum boots over these. 
Her skirts were very short. Her feet were in moccasins, and 
over her shoulders was a fur robe. The hood was of bearskin. 
This all made a very heavy garment, but she heroically trudged 
along with her husband, averaging about fifteen miles each day. 
They reached Forty-Mile Creek a year ago in June, three months 
after they were married. They called it their wedding trip. 

Berry built for his bride a log house, leaving simply holes for 
doors and windows. The thermometer was then getting to from 
forty to fifty below zero. 

Mrs. Berry trudged through the nineteen miles of hard snow 



238 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

and took her place in the hut with her husband. There was no 
floor, but the snow bank. It cost the couple $300 a thousand feet 
to get firewood hauled, and there was but little chance to use fuel 
save to thaw out the moose and caribou which the Indians 
peddled. 

The bride and groom kept warm by cuddling — a thing some- 
what unknown in civilized communities, but absolutely necessary 
with the mercury disappearing in the bulb, and wood worth its 
weight in gold. They endured all the hardships without com- 
plaining, since by this time they knew they had reached the 
golden pot at the tip of the rainbow. 

All Credit to His Bride. 

Berry gives all the credit of his fortune to his young wife. It 
was possible for her to have kept him at home after the first trip. 
She told him to return — and she returned with him. It was an 
exhibition of rare courage, but rare courage fails. The wed- 
ding trip lasted about fifteen months. Berry says it was worth 
$1,000,000 a month. This estimate is one measured in cold 
cash — not sentiment. 

The new gold king and queen made the first strike of a year 
ago in November. They were working along Eldorado Creek, 
a branch of the Bonanza, which empties into the Klondike about 
two miles above Dawson City. Their site was the fifth one 
above where the first discovery had been made in this particular 
region. It took nearly a month to get into paying dirt, but 
when the vein was opened it was simply awful. 

The first prospect panned two and three dollars to the pan. It 
grew suddenly to twenty-five and fifty dollars to the pan, and 
kept increasing. It seemed they had tapped a mint, and one 
day Mr. and Mrs. Berry gathered no less than $595 from a single 
pan of earth. This they saved in a sack by itself, and the peo- 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 239 

pie who have listened to the strange stories of the young man 
and his young wife have no fear that they have been mistaken. 

Many Catch the Fever. 

Thirteen women left Seattle for Alaska very soon after the 
Klondike fever broke out, and with them went the Rev. Father 
Stippick, who had for years been stationed at Circle City. 
Among the women were Mrs. Holmer Chase, Miss Pauline Kel- 
logg, Mrs. C. W. Romley, all of Chicago. They all declared 
they were going to the new Eldorado, not for pleasure, but to 
seek their fortunes, the same as the men who had undertaken 
the journey. 

One of the most striking instances of good luck at the dig- 
gings in which the woman is in any way concerned, was that of 
Ulry Gaisford, a Tacoma barber. Heartbroken, it is reported, 
over a wayward wife, he fled from his Tacoma home and sought 
to bury himself in the Klondike camps. He arrived there 
penniless, and within eighteen months found himself the sole 
owner of a Klondike placer, which is conservatively estimated 
as being worth $1,000,000. Within a few days after beginning 
to work on his claim the barber had taken out $50,000. 

Ulry, it is said, brooked the conduct of his wife as long as he 
could, and then furnished her the money, on her request, with 
which to secure a legal separation. This formality completed, 
Ulry hied him to the wilds of Alaska, where he and his com- 
panions were shipwrecked while navigating the Pelly River, and 
provisions and clothing were lost. With absolutely nothing left 
but the clothing on their backs, almost all became disheartened 
and returned to civilization. 

He pressed on, for a time working in a saw mill and later 
running a little barber shop in Circle City. It is with the trifle 
he saved from his barber shop and some money he saved in a 



240 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

logging enterprise on the Yukon that he filed a claim on the 
Klondike. 

Mention was made above of Joseph Ladue, and there is a 
pretty romance connected with his marriage and good fortune. 
Many years ago, it is reported, he became enamored of a Miss 
Anna Mason, of Schuyler Falls, and they soon became engaged 
to be married. 

The parents of the young woman objected on account of 
Ladue's lack of financial resources, and he went out to the Black 
Hills during the mining craze in that region. He was lucky and 
struck it rich. He corresponded with his sweetheart, and at last 
he thought he had enough money to return and claim the bride. 

' Lost a Fortune. 

Leaving the mines, he tarried at Dead wood, was enticed into 
a gambling game, and his fortune passed into the pockets of 
sharpers. He wrote his affianced and told her the facts, adding 
that he was going to Alaska to make another fortune and hoped 
she would wait for him. Correspondence was kept up and the 
young woman remained constant to her faithful and adventurous 
lover. 

When he visited his old home two years ago he was already 
prosperous, but he was not satisfied with his accumulations, and 
it was decided to postpone the marriage awhile longer. 

He returned to his sawmill and trading post on the Yukon, 
and when the rich gold discoveries there brought him wealth 
beyond what he had dreamed of, he shaped matters as soon as 
possible to return and fulfill his long engagement. The parents 
are satisfied with his worldly prospects at last, and the wedding 
was celebrated at Schuyler Falls lately. That quiet hamlet was 
in a fever of excitement over the nuptails which crowned this 
romance in real life. 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 241 

These cases are but a few*of the many which might be cited 
as illustrations of the interest women have taken in the gold 
craze, and the earnestness and determination with which they 
have entered upon their life of hardship, toil and often privation. 
It is these women who are largely responsible for the high 
morals observable in the mining camps in the Klondike region. 
As said by Miss Fulcomer in the interview given above with her, 
the morals of the Alaskan camps are in no sense to be compared 
with those of the mining camps of California in the days of the 
excitement there. This in a measure is due to the fact that the 
diggings are so remote and the journey to them is attended with 
such hardship and danger, that the looser class are deterred from 
threading the wilderness to the camps. Thus, only women of 
nerve and enterprise, who have some legitimate purpose to sub- 
serve, have thus far made the trip to the diggings. 

If the gold excitement continues nobody contends that this 
state of affairs will last, as it never has in former periods of min- 
ing excitement. But thus far, on the Klondike, the women ad- 
venturers have brought only romance, good morals, and comforts 
to districts where they have been needed. 

Women as Promoters. 

Scores of women, some of them good-looking and of seeming 
refinement, have announced their willingness to marry anybody 
in the shape of a miner who has made a lucky strike, and in 
evidence of good faith have put their names and house addresses 
on record. Others want to visit the Klondike as cooks, as 
nurses, as domestics, in any capacity so long as they can get 
there without outlay for fare, and with prospect of big wages at 
the end of the trip. 

Women appear also as promoters of mining and development 
projects. Some of them can talk intelligently about the country 
16 



242 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

and its prospects, and have a convincing way of setting Out their 
propositions. One, a little keener than her competitors in the 
hunt for the dollars of the public, has sprung a plan by which 
stock maybe paid for on the installment basis at the rate of 
twenty-five cents a week a share. In the spring — most of these 
good things are going to come off in the spring — experienced 
prospectors will be grub-staked and sent into the Klondike to 
look for a paying claim. The company has nothing as yet in the 
way of assets save expectations, but these are very big and 
strong. 

A midwife advertises for a partner to furnish money to open a 
hospital in Dawson City. "On an investment of $5000," she 
says, "I will guarantee a yearly income of $50,000 sure, with 
the chance of making double this." 

Fictitious Klondike stocks, with the quotations regulated by 
clock mechanism, have made their appearance in some of the 
bucket shops frequented by women. It is simply the substitu- 
tion of Klondike for the old names on the tape, but the gamesters 
stake their money on the turns with as much eagerness as if the 
figures were wired from a genuine stock exchange in Alaska, 
and there is an observable spurt in the business. " If I can win 
$1000 here I'm going to the real Klondike just as quick as I 
can," said one woman customer in a La Salle street shop. While 
she was speaking a whirl of the wheel wiped out her margin, and 
she hustled around to borrow car fare to pay her way home. 

Mrs. John A. Logan Interested. 

Early in August, 1897, Mrs. John A. Logan was asked to 
become the president of an association of New York women 
organized to send a business expedition to the Klondike. The 
promoters of the enterprise were Mrs. Eliza P. Connor and Mrs. 
S. W. McDonald, both newspaper workers. The aim of the 



WOMEN AT THE MINES. 243 

association was to send women to the Yukon. Mrs. Logan was 
to attend to the work at the New York end of the line. 

A Women's Klondike Syndicate was also organized about the 
same time in New York. Miss Helen Varick Bos well was 
president, and among the patronesses were Mrs. Jennie June 
Croly, Laura Weare Walters, Des Moines, la. ; Mrs Sarah E. 
Bierce, Cleveland ; Mrs. William Creighead, Dayton, 0. ; and 
Mrs. Sarah Thompson, Delaware, O. 

"We expect to leave New York on March i, 1898," said 
Mrs. McDonald, one of the officers, "and a Pullman sleeping 
car, or two cars, if forty people join us, will be chartered from 
New York to Seattle, and will be occupied exclusively by the 
members of the expedition. Three meals a day will be furnished 
on the cars and all fees and tips will be defrayed by the party. 
The distance is 3310 miles, and we will make it in seven days. 

Details of the Journey. 

" From Seattle to Sitka, another thousand miles, we go by 
steamer, and it will take us four days. From Sitka to Klondike 
is an overland route of 700 miles. We will make a short stay 
at Sitka in order to complete the outfit of the expedition, which 
will be ordered by telegraph on leaving New York. 

" We may decide not to go over the Chilkat Pass, but to take 
the Schwatka route instead ; we will decide that question at 
Sitka. We will travel by caravans when we leave Sitka, where 
the vans will have to be taken to pieces and carried on horseback 
over the pass ; so will the tools and provisions. 

" On the other side of the pass the vans will be refitted and 
the journey continued as when leaving Sitka. When we reach 
the lakes rafts will be built from timber on the banks and the 
rafts will float people, horses and vans across. For twenty per- 
sons there will be five vans, each with four horses, and three of 



244 WOMEN AT THE MINES. 

the vans will be fitted with portable sleepers to accommodate 
seven persons each. The two other vans will be used for pro- 
visions, with sleeping bunks in front. For those wishing to 
sleep alone tents and army cots will be provided." 

Romance of a Seamstress. 

Mrs. Chester Adams, of Winlock, a small sawmill town in 
Western Washington, has written a letter from Dawson City in 
which she says that the steamer leaving there early in July for 
St. Michael's carried $2,000,000 in gold. She promised her 
friends to write the truth about the Klondike stories that have 
been printed telling of the great wealth of the Alaska gold 
fields. Her letter confirms all that has been said, and Mrs. 
Adams says half has not been told. 

She went to Dawson City with a view to making a few hun- 
dred dollars at dressmaking. In the first three days she cleared 
up $90 with her needle. She says she was the first woman 
in the diggings that could fit a dress, and, while there are no 
"bones " or " waist binding or canvas " or other articles about 
which women know everything and which go into a dress, Mrs. 
Adams says prices are kept up, ranging about as follows : Five 
to ten dollars for a plain Mother Hubbard, six dollars to twelve 
for an empress, eight dollars for a plain wool skirt, ten dollars to 
an " ounce" for a waist. These prices are simply for making 
the goods up, and Mrs. Adams says she and her partner have 
more work than they can do. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Poet of the Sierras' Vision. 

Rushes off to the Diggings at the First Report — Mining in '49 — Goes in to 
Rough It — Carries His Own Pack, Pick and Pan — Will Hunt for a Good 
Job — Coming Back With Bed-rock Facts — Contradicts Some Horse 
Stories — Schemes of the Pioneers — Not a Pistol in the Crowd — One Way 
to Get Bear Meat— Recalls Other Big Strikes— On Mary Island— With 
Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police at Metlakahtia — Hay on 
the Klondike — None Coming From Yukon — Frolic with Indian Children. 

JOAQUIN MILLER, "the Poet of the Sierras," known so 
long and well to admirers on two continents by his nom de 
J plume that his real name, Cincinnatus Heine, has become 
more obscure than another man's " alias," was one of the first 
of the old California argonauts to catch the Klondike fever. 

As a youth he was a miner in the rich placer beds and along 
the gold-laden lodes of the Sierras, and again in 1862 he was in 
the rush to Salmon River, when Idaho and Montana were found 
to be gold fields. 

The news cf the marvelous finds on the upper Yukon was 
more than he could stand, and July 26th, little more than a week 
after the arrival of the Portland with its golden store, found him 
on board the steamer City of Mexico, upward bound for Juneau, 
Dyea and the Klondike. 

Goes In to Rough It. 

In a letter to the Chicago Tribune, dated enroute in the Gulf 
of Georgia, the poet wrote of his Arctic quest and its object in 
these words : 

" I have been asked, as I have asked so many of our party, 
what equipment I have for the route over to the mines, and you 
may also want to know. 

245 



246 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 

" Briefly, then, I have twenty pounds of bacon, twelve pounds 
of hardtack, half a pound of tea. I have a heavy pair of blan- 
kets, the heaviest socks, underclothing, boots, a rubber blanket, 
a mackintosh, a pound of assorted nails, ioo feet of small rope, 
a sail, and an ax. My pack is forty pounds all told. I have a 
pocketknife and an iron cup, a thermometer, and about $ I oo. 

" I hope to build a raft, carry my own pack over all the places, 
and travel hastily on ahead and alone. You see I have spent 
years alone in the mountains and have been in almost all the 
' stampedes ' for the last forty years, and I know what I am 
about. 

" Of course, I am not doing this for fun, but for the informa- 
tion of poor men who mean to go to the mines next spring. 
This is what those who pay me to take this trip want and what 
I have promised to do if it can be done without too much risk 
of life or limb. I shall report exactly all the desired details as 
I go along. I am to apply for work at the first mines I reach 
and report exactly, work or not work, wages, hours of work — 
ever/thing, in fact, that a man of small means needs to know. 

Will Hunt for a Job. 

" If I make this trip thus equipped, find work and good wages 
and all that sort of thing, why, any other man who wants to can 
do it. For I am about fifty-five years old and a bit lame of the 
leg. Of course I may have to change some of my plans, may 
join a party and go down in a boat instead of on a raft, and so 
on ; but I am going to ask for work at all events, get it if I can, 
and do it, for I am an old miner and can do almost twice the 
work of a new man. Certainly I can do more good just now in 
that way than by describing clouds, snow peaks and Polar bears, 
although, of course, I shall not all the time keep my face to the 
earth, even though my feet do cleave solidly to it. 



POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 247 

" After having got right down to the bed-rock of the cold, 
frozen facts, I shall take the steamer at Dawson and return 
straight to San Francisco. So you see my forty pounds will be 
about all I absolutely need. But the ' stayer ' will not follow 
my example in this. Still, I am bound to say right here that it 
does not at this distance look like practical common sense 
to waste so much time and strength in getting in supplies by this 
land route when they are bringing thousands of tons by the 
water route. However, I am sent out to tell of things as I find 
them, and shall give plain facts, neither opinions nor advice. 

" More than all this, if I find the mines limited, either in area 
or thickness, my first duty is to let the world know. I shall 
write again when we get to Alaska, also again from the other 
side, or base, of the so-called 'terrible pass.' But once launched 
on the swift river and link of lakes flowing the other way, there 
will be only a monthly mail. Yet, if we find anything of great 
importance in the way of facts we will find some means of sending 
it back. If we do not find plenty of faint-hearted fellows coming 
back, even after crossing the mountains, it will not be in line 
with other excitements from '49 up to this hour." 

Refutes Some Horse Tales. 

According to Miller, the stories that horses were not available 
in crossing the mountains were not founded on fact, for he wrote 
of there being many horses on the steamer, all intended for use 
in going over Chilkoot Pass. 

The poet was reminded, by some of the stories he heard at 
Seattle and Victoria, of the men who discovered the Salmon 
River mines in Idaho in 1 862, and who sent out runners and 
posted notices to keep the people from rushing in and sharing 
the treasure with the discoverers. " Starvation and intolerable 
hardship ' ' was the awsome argument used then, but history 



248 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 

recorded that nobody really starved, though a number perished 
in the snow. 

He writes in this vein : 

" It would seem that those on the outside, as well as those on 
the ' inside ' have been most willing if not eager to keep all new- 
comers in the dark. The men who have horses and all sorts of 
comfortable equipment are those who live along here — Seattle, 
Port Townsend, and so on — and are more nearly in touch with 
the inside. Frankly and truly, each day I come upon some sort 
of evidence that those who know the most are playing the same 
old game that we of the Idaho and Montana mines played a third 
oi a century ago." 

Not a Pistol in the Crowd. 

The poet was struck by the wide difference, in bearing and 
dress, between the gold-hunters of '49 and those of '97. When 
he wrote he had not seen a pistol among the scores of men 
aboard bound for the mines, though there were rifles and shot 
guns in plenty, and he argued well from this for the figure the 
prospectors would cut when they got into the diggings. "A 
miner of to-day looks more like a bicyclist than a booted and 
crimson shirted argonaut " was his happy way of expressing the 
eminently peaceful appearance of his companions. 

One passenger on the City of Mexico, a Californian, had an 
outfit whose extremes were a frying pan and a gilt-edged copy 
of Shakespeare. 

The poet pricks the starvation bubble thus neatly : 

" One man returning from the mines told me this morning that 
he always had to keep the bacon up on a high pole, and had to 
grease the pole, for the bears were so bad that they would tear 
the cabin down, and even climb the pole if they could. Now, it 
seems to me that while the bear up the pole was eating the bacon 



POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 249 

a man of reasonable wisdom could get a little of the bear if 
starving." 

Though he disclaims any direct knowledge of the reputed 
strikes, the poet cannot forbear some characteristic observations, 
thus : 

" You have no doubt read daily of great strikes. I will not 
add to the fever by uttering what I have heard all along the line. 
I am almost certain, however, that the mines are immensely rich. 
At the same time, let it be borne in mind that only a few millions 
have been brought to light. True, only a few men have a hand 
in the work as yet, but when I hear it said on all sides that these 
are the richest mines ever found it sets me to looking back. At 
first in the Idaho mines about a dozen men in Baboon's Gulch 
took out more gold and in less time than any dozen or so in the 
Klondike. The Klondike has given up only $2,000,000 or 
$3,000,000, but Alden Gulch yielded more than $100,000,000 
from 1863 to 1873. The McGregor Company took out $2, 000,000 
in ninety days from Mount Gulch. They built a boat and took 
it down the river to St. Louis armed with Winchesters. 

" At the same time, the mines are so different and the means 
of working the mines so difficult that they never could be worked 
at all if not marvelously rich. No one ever heard before of $500, 
$800, or $1000 to the pan." 

These notions of a veteran gold-seeker are at least worth con- 
trasting with some of the awed ideas of "tenderfeet." 

On Mary Island. 

From Fort Wrangel, Alaska, Miller writes again to the Tribune 
as follows : 

" Mary Island, the place of customs and the postoffice, lies to 
the left of this mighty river, so like the Columbia, so like the 
Hudson, only ten times its size and impressiveness, and right 



250 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 

before us lies what the prospectors who come and go with us 
call a mountain of gold. Men, especially an ex-Federal Judge 
who is with us, say it is the richest piece of ground in the 
world, and that the famous Treadwell Mine, with all its millions, 
is but a babe in arms in comparison with this mountain of 
quartz and gold that lies right in our path as we push on from 
the Custom House toward the gold fields of the Klondike. 

" But it is an Indian reservation, and the Indians, a community 
under the leadership of a wise and good old Scotchman, known 
as Father Duncan, are reputed to be by far the best and most 
wise on the continent, and so the Government is loath to disturb 
them. More than that, it is a point of honor to keep strict faith 
with them, for they are guests of ours." 

With Father Duncan's Flock. 

Then he draws a pretty pen picture of this peaceful Indian 
settlement, thus : 

" You see, Father Duncan had a difference with the Canadian 
authorities about his converts, and begged the United States for 
an island where his people could live apart from miners and 
travelers with rum, tobacco and bad ways of other sorts, and as 
he had a great and good name as a civilizer, we gave him the 
island. This was in the early eighties. In the early nineties 
gold was found all along the steep, starry new home of the 
Indians from the tide wash to the snow that caps the peaks. 

" Many efforts and appeals to dislodge the Indians have been 
made, but the Indians are so humble, and virtuous, and kindly 
disposed that they are pretty safe unless a very incompetent man 
comes to be at the head of this department at Washington. A 
decision was rendered only quite recently entirely favorable to 
these simple savages. 

" Their little city, Metlakahtia, is fairer to see from afar off 



POET OF THE SIERRAS VISION. 251 

as well as close at hand, than almost any city of the white man's 
side ; clean streets, a church that is almost a cathedral in state- 
liness, sidewalks, three or four fire companies, little houses for 
hose and hook and ladder companies at several points ; in fact, 
everything that the white man has except a jail, policemen and 
politicians. 

"'No,' said good Father Duncan with a smile, 'we have no 
need of either jail or police. As for politicians, we have no need 
of them, and they, perhaps, have no need of us.' " 

" The place is built and maintained on the co-operative plan, 

and is certainly prosperous, for the people are pefectly content 

and happy, and not one of the several hundred has any notion 

of going to the mines. Let us take note of their condition 

here." 

Raising Hay on Klondike. 

A miner who had spent several winters in Alaska took the 
raw edge off the climate stories to the poet by telling him the 
climate at the Klondike was the exact counterpart of that at 
Metlakahtia. The old Alaskan added : 

" They raise the best hay there I ever saw. I have seen 
grass as high as my head there in June, and cattle driven in 
from Juneau to Dawson are in better condition when they arrive 
than when they are started from the trail." 

Miller said he followed up the cattle story and found it true. 

He found out something about the Chilkoot Pass, also, and this 
is the way he puts it : 

"And now for news, the newest news about the dread moun- 
tain pass, which, according to all received accounts, was to be 
undertaken only at the peril of life and limb. Well, men all 
along here at the Indian villages and postoffices where we find 
men to talk to, tell me that the true news was not one-quarter 
as bad as published ; that last winter two mails were brought 



252 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 

this way by English mail-carriers and three by American mail- 
carriers, making the monthly mail trips over the sky -scraping 
glaciers and impassable pass as regularly then in the midwinter 
as they make it now in the midsummer. 

" More than this, Mr. White went, almost a month ago, to cut 
a trail below and around the so-called death trap, and now it is 
comfortable. It is three or four miles longer, but it is of easy 
grade and a good, safe pack trail four feet wide. 

"The first five miles is already a wagon road, so you see, as I 
prophecied on leaving Seattle, there was a whole lot of big 
stories told for the benefit of the far-off poor man who was try- 
ing to get to the mines. 

"The nearer we approach the less formidable are all the 
obstacles before us. The walls of Jericho are already down and 
we have not once trumpeted. 

"Why, if this keeps on, in thirty days more we will enter the 
Klondike country at Dawson in palace cars." 

None Coming from Yukon. 

Then, almost as he had penned the cheerful words, there 
came a shock to him and all the other 497 souls on board the 
City of Mexico. Let him tell it in his own graphic way as he 
wrote it to the San Francisco Examiner : 

"A strange, a pathetic scene took place a little time ago. In 
the mildness of all this stillness, solitude, might and majesty of 
nature, we met a steamer, the Alki, San Francisco, coming right 
down upon us out of the clouds and snow. She had come from 
Dyea, the nearest possible point for ships to the Mecca of all 
good gold-hunting pilgrims. She came straight on as if to take 
us in her arms. Seeing that there was news and good news for 
all, she lay right alongside. The great ships ground their sides 
together. Our eager gold-hunters came on the decks by hundreds. 



POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 253 

"News? News? What is the news from Klondike? 

" Not the ghost of news from there, good or bad, thousands 
had gone forward and down the great river Yukon, but not a 
single one returned. A good sign, perhaps, but it was as if 
questioning the dead. And they were so few and so reserved 
and faint of speech and action, compared to our own great big- 
hearted and open-handed men, begging for news from the gold 
fields, that it was as if we had landed Charon's ship and de- 
manded the secrets of his dead. 

No Bacon nor Bread. 

"Only one bit of news did they have to tell, and that was 
doleful enough ; not a bit of bacon or bread at the trading posts 
ahead of us ; and the Klondike, where there are plenty of sup- 
plies at some price, away over Juneau, on and on, hundreds of 
miles beyond the glittering mountains of snow before us. Men 
looked each other in the face, for many of the miners in their 
haste to get forward had brought no supplies at all, but expected 
to outfit at the posts at the base of the mountains, and that is 
why some will not sleep to-night. They will have to turn back 
or wait for the traders' ships to come from far away. 

" It would seem that more men have gone into the mines by 
this mountain route than had been believed. Yet think how 
many are coming. We hear that ships by the score had been 
chartered and every berth taken in them by the time we were 
setting out. They will be along here the next week or the next, 
and likely enough lots of them, like some of our own boys, will 
have no supplies at all. But then, of course, there can be no 
suffering. There is plenty in the loads of the more provident, 
and these waters are always open and ships go up and down all the 
year. It is not like finding this state of things on the other side 
of the mountain, but it may make delays for a number of bold, 



254 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 

good men, who have neither patience nor money to spare." 
The poet had a charming experience with some Indian chil- 
dren on Mary Island. He wrote to the Examiner: 

" I was walking out of the edge of town, trying to get a 
knowledge of the place, when some children who saw me 
almost up to my knees trying to get some jack-in-the-pulpit 
plumes came to look and help if need be, perhaps. Seeing at 
last what I wanted, they nimbly came into the brush and nettles 
and elder bushes and got all I could hold in my two hands ; great 
heaps of yellow, fragrant wild plumes, set off by red elder- 
berries. Now, when I got my wild flowers well in hand I said : 
* Thank you, my little lady ; now, what is your name ? ' 

Five Cents and Ten Cents. 

" She was about seven or eight. She put her fat little hands 
behind her, and, turning about a great deal, her eyes down to 
the plank walk, where we now stood, she was silent. Then I 
said again : 

"'What is your name, my good little girl?' 

" She turned about a great deal more, with her eyes held to 
the levels, and then said : 

" ' Ten cents, ten cents.' 

" I offered her ten cents, but she would not take it. Then I 
offered her a quarter, but the little brown hands were in hiding 
and would not come out, coax as I might. Then I turned to 
another little girl, her sister, perhaps, and said : 

" ' What is your name, little girl ? ' 

" She was not so shy, but, lifting her tiny black eyes to mine 
said : 

" ' Five cents, five cents.' 

" I offered her the quarter, but she tried to dig her little big 
toe into a crack in the plank, turning her bushy black head to 



£OET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 255 

me, smiled, and tried to laugh a little, but she would not put out 
her hand. When the whistle blew I hastened aboard the 
steamer, they following at a little distance. Then, having a 
moment to spare, I turned and said again : • 

" ' Now, pretty, what is your name ? I like you and would 
like to tell my friends about such a good little girl. Please, 
now, what is your name ? ' 

" ' Ten cents, ten cents,' she answered. 

" 'And her name ; what is your little sister's name ? ' 

" 'Five cents, five cents.' 

" I laid some little bits of coin on a stump and ran away for 
the steamer, and I reckon I never will know whether they 
wanted money or not, but am inclined to believe their names 
were Ten Cents Ten Cents and Five Cents Five Cents." 



CHAPTER VIII. 
History and Purchase of Alaska. 

One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen — Seward's 
Glory — His Prophecy on Retiring to Private Life Verified — Compara- 
tively Few People in the Territory — Storj' of the Early Days of Russian 
Occupation — The First Massacre — Country Once Offered to the United 
States for Nothing — Appropriation for Money to Pay for the Tract 
Opposed by Congress Bitterly — Efforts to Provide Country with a Gov- 
ernment — Interior containing Gold Fields once thought Worthless was 
Parceled Out in Thirds between as many Nations — Recent History. 

LITTLE as is known of Alaska among the sisterhood of 
countries having a place in history, its records go back 
early into the Eighteenth Century and are more replete 
with interest and romance, than most people suppose. 

Its discovery was due to Peter the Great's craze for explora- 
tion, and from the time Vitus Bering sailed by commission of 
the Czar to find the fabled land of Vasco da Gama, to the days 
when the Klondike fever broke out in its intensity and became 
the talk of the world, it has ever, in some form or other, had 
something of a conspicuous place in the public mind. 

The purchase of this vast tract by the United States was one 
of the happiest deals our statesmen have ever negotiated. The 
country was bought from Russia in 1867 at the ridiculously low 
figure of less than half a cent an acre. From the very outset 
the investment has been a paying one, as is clearly shown by 
Dr. Dall's figures. 

Alaska paid a net profit of eight per cent, on the purchase 
price during the first five years it was owned by the United 
States. The government leased two tiny seal islands, which 
alone paid four per cent, on the original cost of the entire terri- 
tory, which was $7,200,000. 

256 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 257 

In addition to the profit returned by the fisheries and the seal 
islands and the mining of baser metals, the output of the gold 
mines before ever Klondike was thought of, yielded to the 
United States a sum far greater than the purchase price. As an 
indication of the profit of the fisheries it may be pointed out 
that in six years, from 1884 to 1890, the salmon industry 
alone yielded $7,500,000. 

Few There to Work. 

In considering these figures relative to the profits of this great 
and virtually unknown country, it must be borne in mind, that it 
is one of the most sparsely settled regions in the world. In 
1 893 there was but one inhabitant to each nineteen square miles. 
Thus far in the history of our country it has been a territory 
practically without a government, and only of late, since the gold 
fever broke out, has the general public given it much attention. 
A review of its history therefore will be acceptable to the reader. 

It was in 1728 that Vitus Bering discovered the straits sepa- 
rating Asia and America, and it was in 1741 that he started out 
to find the fabled land. He had two vessels on this journey 
which were separated in a storm about the latitude of 46 degrees 
north. Bering sailed northeast and reached Kayak Island on 
St. Elias Day, July 17, 1741. 

There he saw and named the great mountain, touched at the 
Shumagins, and was wrecked on the Comandorski Islands. 
There, too, the commander died. But the scurvy-stricken crew 
survived and reached Kamschatka, with the pelts of the sea otter 
on whose flesh they had lived. The sight of these furs stimu- 
lated traders, and from that day on Alaska had something of an 
interest for the Russians. 

Tschirikow reached the coast near Sitka and sent a boat's 
crew to explore the bay. The party spent six days in recon- 
17 



258 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

noitering and at the end of that time a search party was sent 
after them. The natives at this time were defiant and paddled 
out to the ship, and raised such a din on shore as probably was 
never equaled in the region. 

Gregory ShelikofT, a rich Siberian merchant, was practically 
the first to establish a regular post in the country. This was 
done in 1783, on Kadiak Island. A regular trade was then 
established with the Russians in Siberia. Baranof pushed his 
enterprise also when he started it in May, 1 799, in every pos- 
sible way. He reached Sitka Sound and built a stockaded post 
three miles north of where the present city of Sitka stands. An 
imperial charter, with monopoly of the American possessions for 
twenty years, was also obtained by Resanol, the son-in-law of 
ShelikofT, and Baranof now became the virtual head of the Rus- 
sian-American Fur Company, in which eventually nine rival 
Siberian firms were consolidated. In this great concern several 
members of the Imperial family were stockholders. 

The First Massacre. 

Such was the discovery of Alaska, and such the founding of 
its capital, Sitka. The old fort at Sitka was destroyed in 1802, 
and all, save a few Russians, who found refuge on a British trading 
ship, were murdered. At the time of the calamity Baranof was 
absent, but he returned two years later, in the month of August, 
with 800 Aleut and Chugach hunters. At the sight of Baranof 
and his band the Indians, who had murdered the Russians, fled, 
and, retreating through the country, destroyed villages wherever 
they came upon them. 

Soon afterward, Baranof contemplated building a fort on the 
Columbia, but, through Resanof, he opened trade with the 
Spanish colonies in California. Resanof, whose wife had died, 
paid court to Donna Concepcion Argeuello, daughter of the Al- 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 259 

cade of San Francisco Bay. They were betrothed, and it was 
while on his way to St. Petersburg to obtain the Czar's consent 
to their marriage that Resanof died in Siberia. 

It was about this time in the history of Alaska that the Fur 
King, John Jacob Astor, began to figure. Baranof was sus- 
picious of him and his many ships, and distrusted the New York 
trader's offer of a permanent alliance of interest. 

It is worthy of note here that Baranof was the first man to 
attempt agriculture in this barren region. He established a 
regular agricultural colony. He was popular among the natives, 
who uniformiy called him " Master," and apparently none of the 
Russian governors of the country after him were quite so acceptable 
to the Indians. 

Emperor Nicholas' Offer. 

American interest in Alaska, of course, dates from the negotia- 
tions which terminated in the purchase of the country. The 
Emperor Nicholas always had a warm spot in his heart for the 
American nation, and in 1 844 he offered to the United States the 
entire Alaskan territory for the mere cost of transfer, if President 
Polk would maintain the United States line at 54 degrees and 40 
minutes and thus shut out England entirely from frontage on the 
Pacific. This generous offer, however, was not accepted, owing 
to diplomatic considerations. 

Again, in 1854, the country was offered to the United States, 
and still again in 1859, wnen $5,000,000 was refused. From 
1 86 1 to 1866 surveying parties traversed a good portion of 
Southern Alaska, choosing a route for a telegraph line to Europe, 
via Behring Strait. The success, however, of the Atlantic cable 
in 1866, after the failure in 1859, ended this project, and the 
cable line to the west was abandoned. 

Then, seeing that the government evinced so little interest in 
the great country to the north, about whose resources there was 



260 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

a great difference of opinion, a California commercial syndicate 
proposed to lease and then purchase the entire country in 1864, 
and still again in 1866. This project went so far as to receive 
serious consideration at St. Petersburg. 

It was at this time that Secretary Seward took up the matter 
of the purchase of Alaska. Seward always deeply appreciated 
Russia's tacit alliance in sending its fleets to the harbors of San 
Francisco and New York in 1863, and keeping them there at 
that critical time, when France and England were on the point 
of recognizing the Richmond government. This sense of grati- 
tude on the part of Seward is, in a sense, responsible for our 
possession of Alaska and its priceless gold fields to-day. 

When the Czar intimated that he wished to sell Russian 
America to any nation, excepting England, Secretary Seward 
entered into negotiations with Baron Stoeckl in February, 1 867. 
The following March a treaty of purchase was sent to the Senate. 
This was reported on April 9th, was ratified on May 28th by 30 
yeas to 2 nays and was proclaimed by President Johnson on June 
20, 1867. 

To Senator Charles Sumner is due the honor of giving the 
permanent name to Alaska. This, as was shown in a previous 
chapter, is simply the corruption of the Indian word meaning 
"great country." But the natives gave the name to Captain 
Cook, and Sumner apparently chose the name from its connection 
with the explorer, whom he admired. 

Honor for Garfield. 

It is also an interesting fact that the intention was to make 
General Garfield, one of the martyr Presidents, the first governor 
of the territory. It was further proposed to divide the great 
tract purchased into six territories. All these schemes, however, 
fell through. 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 261 

Immediately upon the purchase of the country military occu- 
pation was decided upon. General Lovell H. Rousseau, as 
commissioner on the part of the United States, and Captains 
PestschourorT and Koskul, on the part of Russia, met at Sitka 
on October 18, 1867. Three men-of-war, the Ossipee, the James- 
town and the Resaca, and General Jefferson C. Davis and 250 
regular troops were in waiting. 

At half-past three o'clock that afternoon, Maksoukoff and vice- 
governor Gardisoff and the commissioners met the United States 
officers at the foot of the governor's flag-staff. The formality of 
transfer was short and simple. The men-of-war fired a double 
national salute, as did also the land battery. The Russian flag 
was lowered and the American flag was raised, and the country 
which has proved thus far such a source of wealth, and which 
promises to be the most prolific gold bearing region in the world, 
was American property. The only speech recorded as having 
been made at the time was that of Captain PestschourorT, who 
said, as he advanced and the Russian flag fell : 

" General Rousseau, by authority of His Majesty, the Em- 
peror of all the Russians, I transfer to you, the agent of the 
United States, all the territory and dominion now possessed by 
His Majesty on the continent of America and in the adjacent 
islands, according to a treaty made between those two powers." 

Territory is Accepted. 

General Rousseau, metaphorically speaking, accepted the 
gigantic territory, and his little son slowly raised the new flag. 
Following this formal tender and acceptance, Prince Makasoukoff 
gave a dinner and ball. The ships were dressed in bunting, and 
there was a display of pyrotechnics. 

That day ended all Russian dominion in the western conti- 
nent, and there was an immediate exodus of all Russians who 



262 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

were able to leave the country. The Russian Government soon 
offered its subjects free transportation across the Pacific to the 
Amoor settlements, and within a comparatively short time there 
was scarcely a Russian to be seen on Alaskan territory. 

This transfer of the country resulted almost immediately in 
an important change. The Russians used the Julian calendar, 
and this gave way to the Gregorian calendar, and a day was 
dropped from the Sitkan records, to correct the difference of 
twenty-four hours between the Russian day, coming eastward 
from Moscow, and our day, going westward from Greenwich. 

Soon after the American occupation of the land scientists 
began to evince an interest in the country and, during the 
summer of 1867, Prof. George Davidson and eight other eminent 
specialists made a tour of investigation of southeastern Alaska. 
It is an interesting fact that their report and Senator Sumner's 
speech were the two strong arguments Secretary Seward offered 
for the purchase of Alaska in " Russian America." 

Appropriation 'was Opposed. 

Despite the fact that this valuable tract of land was purchased 
for half a cent an acre, there was the bitterest opposition to the 
appropriation of $7,200,000 in gold, equal to about $10,000,000 
in paper at that time, to pay for the territory. It was not till 
July 14, 1868, that the House agreed by vote of 98 to 49, and 
the draft was handed to Baron Stoeckl. 

As in most great government deals, the cry of corruption was 
raised, and it was alleged that there had been misappropriations 
and private gain in the negotiations. As it has been put relative 
to this alleged corruption, there was a "winter of investigation 
following a winter of contest and ridicule." 

Connected with the purchase and early occupation of the 
country some pleasant reminiscences are recorded. Mr. Seward, 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 263 

returning to the United States by way of Kootznahoo, visited 
the country and addressed the citizens in the Lutheran Church 
at Sitka. He made a trip to the Taku glacier, visited the min- 
ing camps of the Stikine River and Fort Wrangel, and, as he 
afterwards expressed himself, was convinced of the wisdom of 
his course in purchasing the country from Russia. 

Lady Franklin, too, visited Sitka in 1870, going there on the 
troop-ship Newbern, and, with her niece, Miss Cracroft, was the 
guest of the Commandant on the Kekoor. The following year 
the discovery of gold caused excitement to the garrison life, and 
the army pay vouchers were sunk in mining experiments at 
Sitka. The efforts then made, however, were as profitless as 
were those made at Juneau ten years later. 

Garrison is Withdrawn. 

On June 14, 1877, the last garrison of United States troops 
left Sitka, and the control of the military department over 
Alaskan affairs came to an end. It was but a few months there- 
after that the Indians had destroyed all the government property 
outside the stockade. They threatened a general massacre, and 
appeals were sent to Washington for protection. This cry for 
help, however, was unheeded. 

The residents at the stockade were besieged in the old fur 
warehouse. A last desperate appeal came from Victoria, and 
finally Captain Holmes A' Court hurried to their relief, without 
orders or instructions. But for this act of bravery and assump- 
tion of responsibility, it is probable there would have been a 
general massacre of all the Americans then living in Sitka. 

From that time a man-of-war has constantly been stationed in 
southeastern Alaska, and the commanding officers have virtually 
been naval governors of the place. 

Between the time of the transfer of the country from Russia 



264 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

to the United States and of the passage of Senator Harrison's 
bill, May 13, 1884, which gave the nondescript tract a skeleton 
of civil government, thirty bills aiming to provide some form of 
government for Alaska were introduced. The Harrison bill 
finally passed, and gave to the country a governor, a district 
judge, a marshall, a clerk and a board of commissioners, with 
right to enter mineral claims, but distinctly withholding the 
general land laws. 

In 1867 the Russian archives, manuscript journals, records, 
logs and account books were transferred from Sitka to the State 
Department at Washington. These, with Tikhmenieff 's history 
of the colony, are among the most interesting relics of the 
country in our possession. 

Some Account of Sitka. 

A word may here be said about Sitka, the capital and seat of 
government of the territory of Alaska. It is situated on the 
west coast of Baranof Island. It is described as the merest 
apology for a town, but it, of course, has a certain importance, 
owing to the fact that it is the official residence of the governor 
and other officers appointed by the United States. Ten years 
ago it had a population of about 1000, of whom only 295 were 
whites. 

The town is built on a level stretch of land at the mouth of 
the Indian River. Its main street is named after Lincoln, and 
extends from the government fort to the old Russian sawmill 
and the Governor's Walk, which is a beach road built by the 
Russians. Fronting the harbor is a large parade ground. Con- 
spicuous among the buildings is the so-called castle, which was 
mentioned in Chapter V. Here, as everywhere in Alaska, the 
traveler will find an interesting display of Alaskan totem poles. 

One interesting building in Sitka should not be passed by with- 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 265 

out mention. This is the old log structure next to the Custom 
House, occupied by the Sitka Trading Company. It was at one 
time the old fur warehouse, and many a time in its history it has 
held pelts to the value of $1,000,000. 

Following the transfer of Alaska to the United States several 
grave international questions arose. Among these was that of 
the international boundary line. This matter really runs back 
to quite an early period. Succeeding the Nookta Convention of 
1790, the Northwest Coast became what is termed virgin soil, 
open to free settlement and trade by any people. As a result 
three nations claimed it. 

The Russians asserted ownership as far down as the Columbia. 
Then they withdrew to the fifty-first degree, or approximately to 
the north end of Vancouver Island. The British Government 
laid claim to the coast from the Columbia River to the fifty- 
second degree ; and the United States to everything west of the 
Rocky Mountains, between forty-two degrees and fifty-four 
degrees forty minutes. 

Treaty of Occupation. 

Then the United States and Great Britain, in order to avoid com- 
plications, agreed in 18 18 to a joint occupancy of the region. In 
1 8 19 the United States bought Florida from Spain, and with it 
acquired all the Spanish rights and claims on the coast north of 
the forty-second degree. As a matter of fact, the United States 
was now virtually in possession of the region. Still the British fur 
traders were pushing westward from the interior and there was 
likelihood at any time of trouble. 

Two years later, in 1821, the Emperor of Russia took a hand 
in the matter, and by his ukase forbade all foreign vessels from 
approaching within 100 Italian miles of his possessions in the 
Pacific Ocean. This brought about the conventions of 1874 



266 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

and 1875 to adjust the rival claims to North American territory 
and to regulate the trade relations. A treaty was formed with 
the United States in 1824, and in 1825 a somewhat similar 
treaty with Great Britain. Russia then agreed to 54 degrees 
and 40 minutes as the southern limit of her possessions, 
and allowed the vessels of the other two nations to trade freely, 
without let or hinderance, for the period of ten years. 

Interior Thought Worthless. 

At that time the interior, which, of late, has given such 
promise as a gold producing country, was uninhabited, and 
indeed wholly unknown, except to the fur trader. Its resources 
were not suspected, and it was deemed practically worthless. It 
was parceled out in even thirds. Russia took that part to the 
northwest, or what is commonly called the Yukon region. 
England took the Mackenzie region, and all the country between 
Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains. The Oregon territory, 
that is, all west of the Rockies and north of 42 degrees fell 
to the United States. 

Four years later an agreement was made between the United 
States and Great Britain, by which the occupancy of the North- 
west coast was indefinitely extended. 

President Tyler, in his annual message to Congress in 1843, 
declared that the United States' rights appertained to all between 
42 degrees and 54 degrees 40 minutes. At that time slave 
interests were being negotiated relative to Texas. To gain 
the State without interference, Calhoun was discussing a 
settlement with the British Minister, with the forty-ninth parallel 
as the Oregon boundary. 

The British Minister, however, rejected the proposition as his 
predecessor had done in 1807, when Jefferson had made pro- 
posals on practically the same lines. 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 267 

Then arose the so-called " Fifty-four Forty " fight. These 
words became a political slogan, and Polk was elected as the 
champion of the cause. Polk took occasion in his inaugural 
message to say : " Our title to the country of Oregon is clear 
and unquestionable." and in his first message he reiterated the 
statement : "All of Oregon or none." 

" The boundary question has been fought over time and again 
and it may be well in this connection to give the exact words of 
the treaties of 1884 and 1885, by which the Russian possessions 
are defined : 

" Commencing from the southernmost point of the island, 
called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in a parallel of 
54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and between 131 and 133 
degrees of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line 
shall ascend the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the 
point of the continent where it strikes 56 degrees of north lati- 
tude ; from this last mentioned point the line of demarkation 
shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the 
coast as far as the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west 
longitude (of the same meridian) ; and finally from the said 
point of intersection the said meridian line of 141 degrees in its 
prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean. 

The Boundary Line. 

" With reference to the line of demarkation laid down in the 
preceding article it is understood (1) that the island called Prince 
of Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia (now by this 
session to the United States). (2) That whenever the summit 
of the mountains, which extend in a direction parallel to the coats 
from 56 degrees of north latitude to the point of intersection of 
141 degrees of west longitude, shall prove to be of the distance 
of more than three marine leagues from the ocean, the limit be- 



268 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 



tween the British possessions and the line of coast which is to 
belong to Russia, as above mentioned (that is to say, the limit of 
the possessions ceded by this convention), shall be formed by a 
line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never 
exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom. 

It is an item of historical interest that, for the last twenty-eight 




KILLING SEALS ON ST. PAUL ISLAND. 

years of Russian ownership of Alaska, the thirty mile strip, as it 
was called, was leased to the Hudson Bay Company, which paid an 
annual rental for the territory which Canada now claims as her own. 
Dr. G. M. Dawson, of the Dominion Geological Survey, in 
1887 and 1888 invented a new map showing the boundary line 
claimed by his government, as drawn by Major-General R. D. 
Cameron. This narrows the thirty-mile strip to five miles in 
some places, and absorbs it entirely as part of British Columbia 
in others. 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 269 

This Cameron line includes all of Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal, 
and Taku Inlet. It also incorporates all of the Stikine River, 
and, ignoring the channel known as Portland Channel, it strikes 
to tide water at the head of Burroughs Bay, and follows Behm 
Canal and Clarence Strait to Dixon Entrance. 

By this map Canada lays claim to a large strip of territory 
about which there has been the bitterest contention, among other 
spots, the island which the United States used for a military post 
and then for a custom house for twenty years, and even Mary 
Island, where the United States Custom House now stands. 

Claiming all the Alaska coast up to 56 degree by this arrange- 
ment, the late Sir John Robson, premier of British Columbia, 
even suggested that the United States yield up the small remain- 
ing strip of mainland between 56 degree and St. Elias, for cer- 
tain concessions in sealing matters. 

It is to be noted that all Canadian maps are now drawn ac- 
cording to the Cameron line, and, that Canadians, realizing the 
advantages of possessing this territory, are loud in their assertion 
of claims about which apparently the United States is apathetic. 

Russians Find Gold. 

Apropos of the Klondike gold fields one recalls the fact that 
it was the discovery of gold that awakened the Russians' interest 
in 1862. The leasing of the thirty-mile strip to the Hudson 
Bay Company did away with the necessity of precisely marking 
a boundary line. The Russians showed very little interest in the 
matter until the gold discovery. 

It was incorporated in the Russian-American Company's lease 
that all mineral land should belong to the Crown, and following 
the report of the discovery of gold, the Czar ordered Admiral 
Popofif to send a corvette from Jaoan to see if the British miners 
were on Russian soil. Possibly his Imperial Majesty had in 



270 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

mind some tax similar to that which Canada has recently imposed 
upon all the American miners in the Klondike regions. 

Apropos of the boundary quarrel San Juan Island nearly 
caused a war between Great Britain and the United States. 
According to the Oregon Treaty of June 5, 1846, both countries 
claimed ownership. The treaty did not specify whether the 
boundary line should pass through Canal de Haro or Rosario 
Strait. As a result, James Douglass and Governor Isaac Stevens 
both claimed jurisdiction of the island. 

The matter came to an issue in consequence of petty quarrels. 
An American citizen shot a British pig, the owner of which did 
not think that $100 was an equivalent. Sentiment waxed hot 
over the matter. The sheriff of Whatcom County sold Hudson 
Bay Company sheep for taxes. General Harney dispatched 
troops to the scene of trouble and established a military post on 
one end of the island in 1859. This was just about the time the 
British and American Boundary Commissioners had begun their 
work of peaceable settlement. 

War Ship on Guard. 

A British war ship was stationed guard. The garrison was 
increased and General Scott came from Washington and offered 
joint occupation until the boundary line should be definitely de- 
cided. For two years a company of United States soldiers held 
the southern end of the island and an equal number of British 
blue jackets the northern point. The two garrisons had as 
pleasant a time as the circumstances would permit, exchanging 
visits and entertaining each other as best they could. 

Then came the treaty of Washington in 1871. The Emperor 
of Germany as arbitrator decided that de Haro was the main 
channel and the water boundary. In obedience to this decision, 
the British withdrew in November, 1872, carefully replanting 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 271 

gardens and leaving everything as nearly as possible as they 
found it. 

San Juan, by the way, is an important point, commanding the 
straits, and its thousand-feet-high hill makes one of the most 
effective batteries in the world. As might be expected, the 
diplomats who had the settling of this controversy split hairs, 
the representatives of each country doing their best to secure 
permanent right to the important military point. The importance 
placed upon this island by the British may be gleaned from these 
words of Lord Russell : 

" San Juan is a defensive position in the hands of Great 

Britain. It is an aggressive position in the hands of the United 

States. The United States may fairly be called upon to renounce 

aggression, but Great Britain can hardly be expected to abandon 

defense." 

Mr. Seward's Glory. 

The discovery of gold on the Yukon in 1897, and the exodus 
of people from the southern States into the wilderness to seek 
their fortunes, recalls the words of Secretary Seward, and con- 
firms their wisdom. A public dinner was given him on retire- 
ment to private life, and in the course of the evening the question 
was asked him : 

"Mr. Seward, what do you consider the most important act 
of your official life ? " 

"Sir," said the secretaiy, without a moment's hesitation, "I 
think the purchase of Alaska was by far the most important 
official act of my life. It will take two generations, however, for 
the public to appreciate the value of this purchase." 

The old statesman was right. It has taken two generations 
and the world is now convinced of the truth of Seward's words. 
It may safely be said that it was Seward's crowning glory to add 
to his country's domain a new empire of such vast extent and of 



272 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

such untold wealth. An empire whose very name signifies 
great country or continent, and whose mountains are supposed 
to hold the mother lode of the gold supply of America. 

Early last August when the gold fever was at its height the 
boundary question naturally came up again, especially in Cana- 
dian circles. R. W. Scott, Secretary of State, at Ottawa, Ontario, 
was then interviewed regarding the statement from Washington, 
which claimed that Great Britain, in its official maps, had drawn 
the boundary line on the Pacific coast so as to deprive the 
United States of hundreds of miles of territory adjoining the 
Klondike regions. 

He said he had gone into the question when a member of the 
Mackenzie administration in 1878, and the point now raised was 
discussed then. 

" The treaty of St. Petersburg of 1825," said he, " defines the 
line dividing Russian territory, now Alaska, from British by a 
line drawn north from the foot of Prince of Wales Island 
through Portland channel until it struck the mountains, when 
the method of delimitation was set forth. 

" The map will show that a line running north from the foot 
of Prince of Wales Island must go through the Behm Canal, 
and that to reach Portland Canal the line would have to go east 
through the open sea a considerable distance before it could 
reach Portland channel or canal. 

The British Contention. 

" The British contention as shown by the dispatches of George 
Canning to Sir Charles Bagot, when British Ambassador at St. 
Petersburg, is that Portland Canal was to be in British territory 
and that the words ' Portland Canal ' in the convention was a 
mistake for ' Behm Canal,' or else that what is now called Port- 
land Canal was not then so called. 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 273 

This is supported by the physical impossibility of running a 
line due north through Portland Canal from the foot of Prince 
of Wales Island, so that Canadian maps show the boundary line 
as running north through the Behm Canal. The difference is 
great in view of the discoveries of gold, and it can only be 
settled by an international arbitration. 

" The disputed territory with the ten marine leagues back 
from the coast added would not, however, embrace the present 
gold fields of the Klondike, which are clearly in British territory, 
because they are well east of the one hundred and forty-first 
meridian, which is the recognized boundary to the north." 

Dispute Will Not Down. 

The claim of Great Britain to a big share of Alaska promises, 
on account of the gold fields, to occupy a large amount of pub- 
lic attention for years to come, and it will be of interest to the 
reader to have the opinion of Secretary Scott, the Canadian 
representative in the matter, offset by that of an American who 
can speak as one having authority. ' The British claim is 
regarded by American officials in general as preposterous, and 
it will likely cause grave diplomatic complications between the 
United States and Great Britain. 

The Senate, before which the boundary question was brought 
as the outcome of a treaty negotiated by Secretary Olney and 
Sir Julian Pauncefote, did not place itself on record in the matter. 
Before a vote was taken Congress adjourned, so that the location 
of the divisional line, which has been in dispute since 1884, is no 
nearer settlement than it has been at any period in the last 
thirteen years. 

General Duffield, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey, was a member of the boundary commission. The sur- 
vey authorized by it has until of late been deemed official. The 
18 



274 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

following statement, therefore, from General Duffield is of value : 
" Up to 1884 both countries were practically united as to the 
boundary line from Mount St. Elias to the southeast. Accord- 
ing to the terms of the treaty between Russia and Great Britain, 
the United States in purchasing Alaska in 1867 acquired all of 
Russia's rights. In describing the southeastern boundary the 
Russian treaty read : 

" The line of demarcation between the possessions of the high 
contracting parties upon the coast of the continent and the islands 
of America to the northwest shall be drawn in the following 
manner : Commencing from the southernmost point of the land 
called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of 
54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude and between the 13 1st degree 
and the 133d degree of west longitude, the same line shall ascend 
north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the 
point of the continent, where it strikes 56 degrees of north latitude. 

Fixing Landmarks. 

" From this last mentioned point the line of demarcation shall 
follow the summit of the mountain situated parallel to the coast, 
as far as the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west longi- 
tude of the same meridian, and finally from the said point of 
intersection, the said meridian line of 141 degrees in its prolongation 
as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit between the Rus- 
sian and British possessions on the continent of America to the 
northwest. 

''Wherever the summit of the mountains, which extend in a 
direction parallel to the coast from 56 degrees north latitude to 
the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west longitude, shall 
prove to be a distance of more than ten marine leagues from the 
ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of 
coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 275 

formed by a line parallel to the widening of the coast and which 
shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom. 

" On all maps from 1825 down to 1884 the boundary line has 
been shown as in general terms parallel to the winding of the 
coast and thirty-five miles from it. In 1884, however, an official 
Canadian map showed a marked deflection in this line at its south 
end. Instead of passing up Portland Channel this Canadian map 
showed the boundary as passing up Behm Canal, an arm of the sea 
some sixty or seventy miles west of Portland Channel, this change 
having been made on the bare assertion that the words * Portland 
Canal,' as inserted, were erroneous. 

By this change an area of American territory, about equal in 
size to the State of Connecticut, was transferred to British terri- 
tory. There are three facts which go to show that this map was 
incorrect. In the first place, the British Admiralty, when survey- 
ing the northern limit of the British Columbian possessions in 
1868, one year after the cession of Alaska, surveyed Portland 
canal, and not Behm Canal, and thus, by implication, admitted 
this canal to be the boundary line. 

Second, the region now claimed by British Columbia was at 
that time occupied as a military post of the United States with- 
out objection or protest on the part of British Columbia. Third, 
Annete Island, in this region, was, by Act of Congress four years 
ago, set apart as a reservation for the use of the Metlektala 
Indians, who sought asylum under the American flag to escape 
annoyances experienced under the British flag. 

Another Change Made. 

"Another change was made at Lynn Canal, the northernmost 
extension of the Alexander Archipelago, which runs north of 
Juneau, and is the land outlet of the Yukon trade. If the offi- 
cial Canadian map of 1884 carried the boundary line around the 



276 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

head of this canal another Canadian map, three years later, car- 
ried the line across the head of the canal in such a manner as to 
throw its headwaters into British territory. Still later Canadian 
maps carry the line, not across the head of the canal, but across 
near its mouth, some sixty or seventy miles south of the former 
line, in such a way as practically to take in Juneau, or at least all 
overland immediately back of it. And the very latest Canadian 
map, published at Ottawa within a few days, while it runs no line 
at all southeast of Alaska, prints the legend ' British Columbia,' 
over portions of the Lynn Canal which are now administered by 
the United States." 

A report was made early in 1897 by United States surveyors 
as to the boundary line in dispute. It said : 

Effect of Determinations. 

" These determinations threw the diggings at the mouth of 
Forty-Mile Creek within the territory of the United States. The 
whole valley of Birch Creek, another most valuable gold-pro- 
ducing part of the country, is also in the United States. Most 
of the gold is to the west of the crossing of the 141st meridian 
at Forty-Mile Creek. If we produce the 141st meridian on a 
chart the mouth of Miller's Creek, a tributary of Sixty- Mile 
Creek, and a valuable gold region, is five miles west in a direct 
line or seven miles, according to the winding of the stream — all 
within the territory of the United States. In substance the only 
places in the Yukon region where gold in quantity has been 
found are, therefore, all to the west of the boundary line between 
Canada and the United States." 

It can readily be seen that the claim of the United States is 
directly opposed to that of the Canadians. It is true that the 
arbitration of the 141st meridian was favored by the United 
States surveyors, but some of them were angered at the claims 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 277 

of the English in regard to Lynn Creek and the whole south- 
eastern boundary, and expressed the belief that the United States 
would refuse to arbitrate the claims of this portion of the boundary. 

An interesting chapter of Alaskan history is now making, and 
the prospect is that in the near future the name of Lincoln will 
be given to a territory or state in the great northwest, as that of 
Washington was some years ago. There are enthusiastic advo- 
cates of the movement who think the proposed territory will 
eventually become a sovereign, if not the banner state of the 
Union. Any account of the history of Alaska, therefore, should 
include this possibility by anticipation. 

Long before the great gold discoveries in the Klondike region 
of the Northwest Territory became known a movement was 
quietly inaugurated to divide the great Territory of Alaska. In 
May active work was begun and the project is now ready for 
public attention. 

Petitions for division are now in circulation in the interior 
along the Yukon River, and in all the mining camps, and should 
reach Washington early in September. The name of Lincoln 
for the new territory met with a quick response on the part of 
the hardy miners, who are delighted with the prospect of a 
territorial form of government that will give them direct govern- 
mental supervision, land laws and titles, and some incentive to 
good citizenship. 

Recognition of Russia. 

When the purchase was made it was construed by the admin- 
istration papers as an act of courteous recognition of Russia's 
friendship in the civil war, it being remembered that a Russian 
fleet of three vessels appeared in New York harbor during the 
excitement over the Trent affair, when it looked as if war with 
Great Britain was certain to result. It was said at the time — 
and is still maintained in diplomatic circles — that the Russian 



278 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

admiral had sealed orders, which directed him, in case of war 
between the United States and Great Britain, to announce 
Russia's alliance with America, and proceed to capture any 
British vessel possible. 

How much the purchase of Alaska served as an expression of 
our gratitude for Russia's assistance at a critical period no one 
accurately knows. The " true inwardness " of the transaction 
was kept under cover for diplomatic reasons, but it pleased Great 
Britain as much then as the developments of the seal fishing 
controversy, and the uncertainty of the boundary line, at the 
present date. 

In fact, the " national iceberg," as it was termed in 1867, has 
been from the beginning a torrid source of unpleasantness 
between the two great nations of the English speaking tongue. 

Early Day Statistics. 

When Alaska was annexed the population was stated by the 
Russian missionaries at 33,426, of whom but 430 were whites. 
The mixed race — termed Creoles — counted 1756, and were the 
practical leaders, using the Indian tribes for hunting and fishing. 
Fur trade and the fisheries were at that time the only known 
resources. As early as 1880, however, the sea otters shipped 
represented a value of $600,000, the fur seals over $ 1 ,000,000, 
the land furs $80,000, and the fisheries from $12,000 to $15,000. 

Mineral riches were hinted at by the early explorers. In 1885 
the Director of the Mint credited Alaska with $300,000 in gold 
$2000 in silver, the chief contributor being the Alaska mill at 
Douglas City. In 1896 the gold product reached $1,948,900, 
showing a gain over 1895 equal to $386,100. For 1897 the 
gold output is placed by good judges at not less than $10,000,- 
000, which is nearly twice that of Colorado in 1892. 

Small lots of smelting ore — from which some silver is recov- 



HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 279 

ered — are shipped to Tacoma for treatment, but the main pro- 
ducers are the large mills on Douglass Island, equipped with 
stamps, concentrators, and modern appliances for saving gold 
values. The grade of the quartz mined and worked, as early as 
1892, showed an average value of $2.42 per ton. This material 
is taken from an immense quarry, which has none of the marks 
of a glacial deposit. The exposure of the quarry by glacial 
action is entirely probable. 

What will be Left to Alaska. 

After the division there will be left to Alaska all of the terri- 
tory along the Northern Pacific sea coast and the Aleutian 
Islands. This includes all the agricultural lands in Alaska and 
that part of the territory which enjoys a comparatively mild and 
equitable climate on account of the well-known influences of the 
Japan current. The proposed Territory of Lincoln will embrace 
within its boundaries the valleys of the great Yukon River and 
its tributaries and the coast along Behring Sea. 

The city of Weare, at the mouth of the Tanana River, 800 
miles from the sea, and on the Yukon River, as shown on the 
map, will be named in the act as the seat of government of the 
new territory. Tributary to the capital on all sides will be the 
great placer mining gold fields. 

The influx of population into these gold fields is so great that 
the residents of the interior of the present Alaska, and all who 
have investments there, arc unanimous in their demands for such 
recognition from the Government as will give them protection to 
life and property. They are ready for the active development of 
a rich, great country, too long kept closed. 

There are mines of gold, copper, coal, iron, silver, and lead 
within the proposed Territory of Lincoln, and to these must be 
added the recently discovered rich oil fields. 



280 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

Organization will immediately follow the territorial creation, 
and it is likely "the delegate from Lincoln" will soon be recog- 
nized in Congress. He will be on an equal footing with delegates 
from other territories, and will have a voice in argument, but no 
vote on roll-call. 

There is political significance, too, to the movement that, in 
the eyes of many, is of great importance. 

" The people of Sitka have little time and less inclination to 
attend to the affairs of the interior of Alaska," is the complaint 
that is most often heard. 

The new division will give to Alaska the coast trade, the great 
quartz mines of Douglas Island, and all the land in the territory 
at present known to be adaptable to agricultural purposes — in 
round numbers 80,000 square miles. The Territory of Lincoln 
will comprise 500,000 square miles of the interior and northern 
coast country. 

It is a reasonable supposition that a great deal of wealth will 
be taken out of these gold fields, and it should not be forgotten 
that the Canadians and their Government are vigorously extend- 
ing their settlements and their sphere of influence north and 
west of British Columbia. A subsidy of $ 1 1 ,000 a mile is about 
to be given to a railway branching northward from the Canadian 
Pacific for over 200 miles, which is to be constructed with a view 
to open up that portion of British Columbia and drawing to it 
from the interior of Southeastern Alaska whatever trade may 
develop in that region. The American Government will at least 
be careful that its political rights and territorial jurisdiction are 
carefully guarded, in order that the enterprise of its people may 
have safe opportunity for achievement. 



CHAPTER IX. 
Topography. 

Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features — Like an Ox's Head 
Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its Archi- 
pelago a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends of the 
Indians are Many — Tributes of Visitors to the "Wilderness — Magnifi- 
cent Auroral Displays — The Reports Brought Back as to the Differences 
of Temperature — Mr. Weare Gives Some Interesting Information — 
Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are Located. 

AN account of Alaska naturally includes a description of its 
topographical features, somewhat more in detail than 
was given in the chapter on the Wonders of Alaska. 
As was there said, the very name signifies " great country " or 
continent. And it is a great country, great in every way, cover- 
ing an area equal to the original thirteen States of the Union, 
with the great Northwest Territory added. 

Put in other words, Alaska is as large as all of the United 
States east of the Mississippi and north of Alabama, Georgia and 
North Carolina, extending iooo miles from north to south and 
3500 miles from east to west. It is a remarkable fact that the 
shore line up and down the bays and around the islands, accord- 
ing to the United States coast survey, measures 25,000 miles or 
two and one-half times more than the Atlantic and Pacific coast 
lines of the remaining portions of the United States. The coast 
of Alaska alone, if extended in a straight line, would belt the globe. 

Beginning at the north end of Dixon Inlet, in latitude 54 
degrees, 40 minutes, the coast line sweeps in a long, regular 
curve north and west to the entrance of Prince William's Sound, 
a distance of 550 miles. From that point it extends 725 miles 
south and west to Unimak Pass, at the end of the Alaska penin- 
sula. At this pass the chain of the Aleutian Islands begins 

281 



282 TOPOGRAPHY. 

and extends 1075 miles in a long curve almost across the Pacific 
Ocean to Asia. 

The dividing line between Asia and Alaska, according to the 
treaty made with Russia, is the meridian of 193 degrees west 
longitude. To the north of Unimak Pass the coast has a zig-zag 
line as far as Point Barrow, on the Arctic Ocean. The general 
shape of Alaska is thus that of the head and horns of an ox 
inverted, the mainland forming the head and the chain of the 
Aleutian Islands the horns. 

The surface of this immense tract falls naturally into three 
distinct districts. The first is the Yukon, extending from the 
Alaskan range of mountains to the Arctic Ocean. The second 
is the Aleutian, which includes the Alaska Peninsula and all the 
islands west of the 155th degree of longitude. The last is the 
Sitkan, embracing Southeastern Alaska. 

A Vast Moorland. 

Of the Yukon district, in which most of the gold fields lie, 
we know comparatively little. Until the hardy miners and pros- 
pectors were lured into the mountains and plains and along the 
river beds in the hope of securing fortune, few ever ventured 
into the region. As might be expected, little or nothing of 
scientific value comes from people of this stamp. The prospectors 
and miners in a large measure have but a single purpose and 
have been dependent upon the natives, who are familiar with the 
passes, to conduct them into the interior. No body of scientific 
men has thus far undertaken a thorough exploration of the 
region. Only in its greater outlines or details do we know it. 

The " Coast Pilot," a publication of the United States Coast 
Survey, gives a passage which is worth transcribing, descriptive 
of the country between Norton's Sound and the Arctic Ocean. 
It says: 




iiB^ 



283 



284 TOPOGRAPHY. 

''It is a vast moorland whose level is only interrupted by 
promontories and isolated mountains, with numerous lakes, bogs 
and peat beds. Wherever drainage exists, the ground is covered 
with a luxuriant herbage and produces the rarest as well as the 
most beautiful plants. The aspect of some of these spots is 
very gay. Many flowers are large, their colors bright and, 
though white and yellow predominate, other tints are not un- 
common. Summer sets in most rapidly in May and the landscape 
is quickly overspread with lively green." 

The Aleutian district is for the most part of mountainous and 
volcanic formation. There are, however, many natural prairies 
between the mountains and the sea, with a rich soil of vegetable 
mould and clay, and covered with perennial wild grasses. Speak- 
ing of grasses recalls the statement of Dr. Kellogg, botanist of 
the United State Exploring Expedition. Says he : " Unalaska 
abounds in grasses, with a climate better adapted for haying than 
the coast of Oregon." 

The Rev. Sheldon Jackson says that in 1879 at Fort Wrangel 
he cut wild timothy that would average five feet in height, and 
blue grass that would average six feet. He measured one stem 
that reached seven feet three inches. Prof. Muir, State Geologist 
of California at one time, also declares that he never saw such 
rank vegetation outside the tropics. 

Some Characteristic Features. 

Alaska is remarkable for the boldness of its shores, and its 
deep water, numerous channels and innumerable bays and har- 
bors, the great mountainous islands of Vancouver, Queen Char- 
lotte, Prince of Wales, Wrangel, BaranofT, ChichagofT, and many 
others forming a complete breakwater, so that it is possible for 
the traveler to have an ocean voyage of 1000 miles or more 
without once getting out to sea. Says the Rev. Sheldon Jackson : 



TOPOGRAPHY. 285 

" The labyrinth of channels around and between the islands, 
that are in some places less than a quarter of a mile wide, and 
yet too deep to drop anchor ; the mountains rising from the 
water's edge from iooo to 8000 feet, and covered with dense 
forests of evergreen far up into the snow that crowns their sum- 
mits ; the frequent track of the avalanche cutting a broad road 
from mountain top to water's edge ; the beautiful cascades, or 
the glaciers, or the overflow of high inland lakes, falling over 
mountain precipices or gliding like a silver ribbon down their 
sides ; the deep gloomy sea fiords, cleaving the mountains into 
the interior ; the beautiful kaleidoscopic vistas opening up among 
the innumerable islands ; mountain tops, domed, peaked and 
sculptured by glaciers ; the glaciers themselves, sparkling and 
glistening in the sunlight dropping down from the mountain 
heights like some great swollen river, filled with drift wood and 
ice, and suddenly arrested in its flow, all go to make up a scene 
of grandeur and beauty that cannot be placed upon canvass or 
adequately described in words." 

Archipelago is Divided. 

This great archipelago of Alaska is naturally divided into 
three portions, the southern portion being in Washington Terri- 
tory, the central in British Columbia and the northern in Alaska 
proper. This last was named, in honor of the Czar of Russia, 
the Alexander Archipelago. It is seventy-five miles from east 
to west and 300 miles from north to south. The aggregate area 
of these islands is 14,142 square miles. 

To the westward is Kadiak, 600 miles distant, with an area of 
5676 square miles ; then comes the Schumigan group, contain- 
ing 103 1 square miles; and then the Aleutian chain which has 
an area of 6391 square miles. Then, to the northward, are the 
Seal Islands, containing, with the other islands in Behring Sea, 



286 TOPOGRAPHY. 

about 3963 square miles. Thus, it will be seen that the total 
area of the island of Alaska alone is 31,205 square miles, an 
extent of territory equal to that of the State of Maine. 

Alaska is also the home of great mountain peaks. It has the 
highest peaks in the United States. The coast range of Cali- 
fornia and the rocky range of Colorado and Montana trend 
together in Alaska and form the Alaskan mountains. Here, we 
may notice the fact that the old atlases misrepresent the range 
of mountains that is thus formed. It does not continue north- 
ward to the Arctic Ocean, as was supposed, but turns to the 
southwest, extending through and forming the Alaskan penin- 
sula and then gradually sinking into the Pacific Ocean. Only a 
few of the highest peaks are here visible above the water. It is 
these peaks that form the Aleutian chain of islands, which are 
only the mountain tops. 

Island Mountain Peaks. 

The islands of the Alaskan archipelago naturally decrease in 
size and frequency as the mountain range sinks deeper and 
deeper into the sea. Unimak, the most eastern of the chain, is 
noted for that most magnificent of volcanoes, Shishaldia, 9000 
feet high; then comes Unalaska, 5691 feet; after this Atka, 
4852 feet; then Kyska, 3700 feet; and finally Attu, which is 
the most western of the group, and has an altitude of only 3 084 feet. 

Alaska has the highest mountain peaks in the United States, 
and some of them are worthy of special mention. Mount St. 
Elias towers aloft 19,500 feet; Mount Cook, 16,000 feet; 
Mount Crillon, 15,900 feet; Mount Fairweather, 15,500 feet. 
There are many others, whose altitudes are no less striking. 

In Alaska, too, is to be found the great volcanic system of 
the United States. Grewingk enumerates sixty-one volcanoes. 
These are mainly on the Alaskan peninsula and the Aleutian 



TOPOGRAPHY. 287 

Islands. It is said that the violence of the volcanic forces is 

decreasing, and that only ten of these volcanoes are now active. 

Mount Edgecombe, near Sitka, is one of the extinct volcanoes. 

On the Naas River, just across from southern Alaska, there is 

still to be seen a remarkable lava overflow from a volcano in the 

neighborhood. 

Interesting Indian Legends. 

About these volcanoes the fancy of the Indians has linked 
any number of curious legends. To these children of the wil- 
derness the volcanoes are little less than living entities and, natur- 
ally, reasons for their activity have been sought by the savages 
and have been expressed in some terms of ordinary life. 

Again, it is in Alaska that we find the great glacial system of 
the United States, chief of which is the great Muir glacier, which 
has been described in Chapter V. One can hardly go anywhere 
along the coast of Alaska without finding these great sleeping 
giants, as they have been called, debouching slowly into the 
ocean. Their number is literally legion. Prof. John Muir 
describes one of these monsters and his description is worth 
transcribing, partly from Prof. Muir's reputation as a scientist 
and the accuracy of the facts he marshals, and partly from the 
picturesque language he uses. The glacier he visited and 
described particularly was one near Cape Fanshaw. Said he : 

"The whole front and brow of this majestic glacier is dashed 
and sculptured in a maze of yawning crevasses, and a bewilder- 
ing variety of strange architectural forms, appalling the strongest 
nerves, but novel and beautiful beyond measure — clusters of 
glittering, lance-tipped spires, gables and obelisks, bold out- 
standing bastions and plain mural cliffs, adorned along the top 
with fretted cornice battlements, while every gorge and crevasse, 
chasm and hollow, was filled with light, shimmering and fulsome, 
in pale blue tones of ineffable tenderness. 



288 TOPOGRAPHY. 

" The day was warm, and back on the broad, waving bosom 
of the glacier water streams were outspread in a complicated 
network. Each, in its own frictionless channel, cut down 
through the porous, ice-decaying surface into the quick and 
living blue, and flowed with the grace of motion and with a ring 
and gurgle and flashing of light to be found only on the crystal 
hills and dales of a glacier. 

Reflecting God's Plan. 

''Along the sides we could see the mighty flood grinding 
against the granite with tremendous pressure, rounding the out- 
swelling bosses, deepening and smoothing the retreating hollows, 
and shading every portion of the mountain walls into the forms 
they were meant to have when, in the fullness of appointed time, 
the ice-tool should be lifted and set aside by the sun. Every 
feature glowed with intention, reflecting the earth plans of God. 

" Back two or three miles from the front the current is now 
probably about 1 200 feet deep, but when we examined the walls, 
the grooved and rounded features so surely glacial showed that 
in the earlier days of the ice age they were all over-swept, this 
glacier having flowed at a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet 
above its present level." 

The rate of recession of glaciers is one of the unsettled ques- 
tions of Alaska. It seems, however, that rain withers and breaks 
away the ice most rapidly. A close watch was kept in July and 
August of 1 89 1 by Miss Skidmore, who concluded from her 
observations that the tide had little or nothing to do with the 
fall of the ice. On many warm, clear days she noticed, when a 
hot sun fell upon the ice front for sixteen and eighteen hours 
continuously, there was no sound. After days of silence, on 
the contrary, came tremendous displays, one-quarter or one-third 
of the long wall falling away apparently without cause. As a 



TOPOGRAPHY. 289 

general rule, these falls occurred in the middle of the night or 
at early daybreak. 

Attempts have been made by photographic evidence to deter- 
mine the recession of the glacier, but with limited success. In 
this way it has been shown with reasonable sureness that one 
glacier, at least, retreated iooo yards between 1886, when 
Professor Wright visited it and 1890, when Professor Reid 
visited it. Photographs were again taken in 1891, which showed 
a recession of 300 yards in a year. Professor Muir noted a 
retreat of a mile between his visits to a glacier in 1880 and in 1 890. 

The effect of this irregular coast line, with its setting of moun- 
tain peaks and glaciers, is striking. The surroundings are fasci- 
nating. The shores are sentineled by gigantic mountains, on 
whose broad sides recline a dozen or more huge glaciers — 
amongst them the Davidson. But to reach the greatest of these 
" frozen Niagaras," Lynn Canal must be retraced to appropri- 
ately-named Icy Straits, north of which is Glacier Bay, into 
whose pellucid waters descend Titantic glaciers, king among 
which is the Muir. 

In matchless beauty and colossal structure it is overpowering 
to the senses. Here, right in front, a wall of ice nearly two 
miles long and several hundred feet high, and rising in a glitter- 
ing cliff out of the waves, marks the end of the Muir Glacier, 
which is formed by the union of twenty-six tributary glaciers, 
and the united mass of ice covers 1000 square miles. 

A Giant Among Peaks. 

A little further to the north is the Melaspina Glacier, lying 
beneath a grand circle of snowy peaks, the loftiest of which, 
Mount St. Elias, is 15,360 feet above the sea. The Melaspina 
Glacier is a great sea of ice, formed by the junction of many 
glaciers descending from the mountains. 
19 



290 TOPOGRAPHY. 

These rivers of ice, at their confluence, spread out in one vast 
united ice-sheet, and from this great congealed, constantly mov- 
ing mass, as it debouches into the sea, huge pieces break from 
the forefoot and with terrific force, lashing the waters into great 
waves, drop into the sea, accompanied by loud reports which 
reverberate like the booming of heavy artillery. From the 
summit of the Muir Glacier, the eye beholds a frozen world. 

In Alaska also, are to be found numerous boiling springs, 
veritable geysers, from which the water bubbles up with a tem- 
perature that is really surprising. There are some large ones 
south of Sitka, and several more on Perenosna Bay, on Magat 
Island and at Fort Moller. Boiling springs are also to be found 
in numbers on many of the islands, and so hot is the water that 
gushes from them that for ages the natives have been accustomed 
to boil their food in them. In the crater of Goreloi there is a 
vast boiling spring eighteen miles in circumference. On Beaver 
Island there is a lake very strongly impregnate with nitre. 
Some of the springs are likewise touched with sulphur. 

Like the glaciers and the volcanoes, these boiling springs 
have been subject for marvel on the part of the Indians. Noises 
proceed from them similar to the roaring of cannon, and it is 
natural that the unlettered savages, being unable to explain these 
mysterious phenomena, should surround them with a tissue of 
their own imagination and resort to legend for an explanation. 

Fine Auroral Displays. 

As part of the natural phenomena of the country, mention 
must be made of the magnificent auroral displays. Of these, 
Bancroft gives a pretty description. He describes them " as 
flashing out in prismatic corruscations, throwing a brilliant arch 
from east to west — now in variegated oscillations, graduating 
through all the various tints of blue and green and violet and 



TOPOGRAPHY. 291 

crimson, darting, flashing or streaming in yellow columns, up- 
ward, downward, now blazing steadily, now in wavy undulations, 
sometimes up to the very zenith, momentarily lighting up the 
surrounding scenery, but only to fall back into darkness." 

It is recorded that on the occasion of one of these beautiful 
auroral displays the air was so thickly charged with electricity 
that sparks flashed from the points of the soldiers' bayonets. 

In a previous chapter mention was made of the great Yukon 
River, and it remains here to be said chiefly that the Yukon, 
while it is the greatest, is only one of many mighty streams. 
Indeed, in Alaska are to be found some of the largest rivers, not 
only of the United States, but of the world. The Yukon is the 
great artery leading from the coast into the interior. 

Its course throughout its 2500 miles of length is marked by 
features which make it one of the most remarkable water courses 
on the globe. For the first 1000 miles it varies in width from one 
to five miles and often, owing to the islands in its course, it is 
twenty-five miles in width. It is navigable for 1500 miles. Its 
upper waters are within the Arctic Circle and along its banks live 
thousands of people who know nothing of its mouth or of its 
head. To them it is simply an unexplored immensity. 

Climate Extremely Varied. 

Among the other principal rivers of the territory are the 
Stikine River, 250 miles long ; the Chilkat, the Copper, the Fire, 
the Nushergak and the Kuskokuim. This last is next in size to 
the Yukon, and is from 500 to 600 miles in length. The Tananeh 
is 250 miles in length, and half a mile wide at its mouth, and 
has a very strong current. Two of Yukon's principal tributaries 
are the Nowikakat, 112 miles, and the Porcupine. 

The climate of Alaska, owing to the vast extent of the coun- 
try, is as varied as in the United States. In Southern Alaska the 



292 TOPOGRAPHY. 

temperature is so mild as to give no suggestion of the extreme 
rigor of the north. The greatest cold recorded on the Island of 
Unalaska during a period of five years was zero. The average 
for five years at seven o'clock in the morning was thirty-seven 
degrees above. The average of weather for seven years shows 
53 clear days, 1263 half-clear days and 1255 cloudy days. This 
indicates a climate very similar to that of northwestern Scotland. 
At Sitka the record is not very dissimilar. During a period of 
forty-three years there was an average of 200 rainy or snowy 
days per year. During the winter of 1877 the coldest night at 
Sitka only formed ice about the thickness of a knife blade. At 
Fort Wrangel, which is at a distance from the ocean and near 
snow-covered mountains, the climate is colder than at Sitka. 
And when one reaches the regions of the North, where the gold 
mines are located, it is no uncommon thing to find the tempera- 
ture falling from eighty to ninety below zero. 

Testimony of Travelers. 

The mild climate of Southern Alaska is due to the Japan Gulf 
Stream, which first strikes the North American continent at the 
Queen Charlotte Islands, in latitude 50 degrees north. At this 
point the stream divides, one portion going northward and west- 
ward, along the coast of Alaska, and the other southward along 
the coast of British Columbia, Washington Territory, Oregon 
and California. Thus the climate of the States just named is 
made mild and pleasant in precisely the same way that the shores 
of Spain, Portugal, France and England are made mild by the 
ocean currents of the Atlantic. 

As the climate is one of the terrors of the country in the 
popular estimate, the testimony of people who have been in the 
gold region in recent years will be acceptable to the reader. The 
prospector is willing to scale mountains, traverse plains, cross 



TOPOGRAPHY. 293 

rivers, shoot rapids, and brave a thousand perils, but the thought 
of living in a country whose temperature is often represented as 
being comparable with that of a vast refrigerator is appalling. 

Owing to the popular association of the idea of extreme 
frigidity with the word Alaska, many people will doubtless be 
surprised to learn that the average temperature in the Klondike 
region during the four coldest months of the year is not ordina- 
rily much lower than 20 degrees below zero. 

The average winter's snowfall in that part of Alaska is only 
about two feet, whereas on the coast it is ten times that much. 

Facts from Mr. Weare. 

" The snowfall in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy is only about 
two feet during the winter, although it is as much as twenty feet 
along the coast where the influence of the Japan current is felt. 

" It is bitterly cold in Arctic Alaska. There is no denying 
this. Forty degrees below zero for days at a stretch is not un- 
common. But they have the same kind of weather in Northern 
Russia, and one does not hear any plaints of hardship from there. 
Peary and other Arctic explorers have spent whole winters hun- 
dreds of miles nearer to the pole without actual suffering. 

" In Russia and other cold countries the people prepare for the 
long eight months' winter by building tight log houses in which 
they keep comfortable over their queer-looking tile stoves which 
give an immense amount of heat from a small bunch of wood. 
The same thing will have to be done in the Yukon country. 
Frail tents are not suitable shelter in winter. 

"It's too much like a man trying to get along with a linen 
duster for a topcoat. If the prospectors are well housed, well 
clothed, and well fed, they can bid defiance to the cold, and 
those who are not able to secure these three important items 
should not tempt fate by making the trip." 



294 TOPOGRAPHY. 

The following is important as being exact figures direct from 
the gold region : 

Table Showing Highest and Lowest Temperature at Fort 
Constantine, Yukon, Jan. ist to May 31st, 1896. 

Day January February March April May 

of Month High I,ow High I,ow High I,ow High I,ow High I^ow 

I —24 —38 —20 —32 — 7 —26 II —24 30 5 

2 —29 —46 — 5 —22 — 1.5 —16 9 —13 19.5 5 

3 —45 —55 —1 1.5 —43 12.5 —11 19 — 3 22 5 

4 —46 —56.5 — 4 —40 17 8 23 —23 32 11 

5 —54 —6i-5 — 5 —21 18 08 —38 50 30 

6 —50 —62.5 o —15 13.5 — 1 6 —34 51 30 

7 —4o —61 4 —20 13.5 —30 13 —38 46 3i-5 

8 —26 —54 7 —20 11 —2 4 8.5—34 58 35 

9 —17-5 —28 —17 —47 8 —23 12 —31 65 28 

10 —12.5 —25 —27 —45 12.5 —20 15 —31 61 30 

11 — 8 — 23 — 45 — 61 23 — 121 — 21 60 30 

12 — 9 —25 —4o —62 34 2 20 —23 53 35 

13 —14-5 — 3 2 —46 —56 23 o 16 —26 56 30 

14 —27 —4i ~33 —56 35 7 16 —26 55 29 

15 —3i —42 —35-5 —55 39 621 1 56 38 

16 —26.5 —36 —34 —50 31 10 39 20 55 33 

17 —22 —42 —32 —47 39 19 45 3i 54 30 

18 —20 —39 —26.5 —56 34 2 48 30 59 28 

19 —15 —26 —16 —53 34 10 38 14 62.5 40.5 

20 —16.5 —42 4 —20 33 14 33 20 55 37 

21 —21 —54 17-5 1 15 —35 4o 17 47 33-5 

22 —45 —58 24.5 10 13 —20 16 — 5 54.5 24 

23 —45 —61 21 —15 20—5 28.5 5 59.5 32 

24 ..... . —48 —60 25 —22 21 3 34 19 65 33 

25 —48 —56 — 3 —15 28.5 11 43 29 58 35.5 

26 —49 —64 1-5 —35 27 10 42 22 58 39 

27 —57 —65 —10 —4i 24 —29 32.5 6 61.5 35 

28 —44 —59 —18.5 —41 21 —10 29 12 58.5 33 

29 —18 —55 —10 —33 20 5 22 — 8 55 26 

30 —13 —42 9 — 5 39 19 63 28 

31 — 8 —27 7 —17 .... 60 30 

Means .... —30 —46 —12 —35 20 — 5 25 — 4 53 28 

Mn, tern, Mth.— 38 23.5 7.5 10.5 40.5 



CHAPTER X. 
Flora, Fauna and Climate. 

Agricultural Industries in Alaska — Vegetables and Small Fruits in the 
Southeastern Portion — Grasses and Fodder — Panorama of Blossoms in 
the Short Summer — Seasons in the Yukon Basin — Sea Otters and Fur 
Seals — Food Animals and Carnivorae — Moose and Caribou — Value of 
Pelts — Fish of the Territory — Salmon Canning and Salting — A Dog 
Fish Story — Birds of Alaska — Among the Cetaceans — Mosquitos and 
Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Temperature at Klondike — Animals 
and Vegetation in British Columbia. 

ALASKA, bisected by the Arctic Circle, bounded by a vast 
coast line and culminating in the loftiest peak of the 
Rocky Mountain system, possesses a climate of remark- 
able variations and possibilities. From pleasant Sitka to ice- 
locked Barrow, from sea-girt Baranoff to the Alpine crest of St. 
Elias, from the Torrid summers to the hyperborean winters of 
the great Yukon basin, almost every extra-tropical range of tem- 
perature may be noted and almost every kind of meteorological 
condition experienced. 

The effect of these wide climatic ranges is manifest in the 
fauna and flora of the territory. The former corresponds quite 
closely to the sub-arctic type ; the latter presents a variety of 
brilliance and sobriety at once delightful and astonishing. The 
animals belong largely to the fur-bearing species, though natives 
of more temperate regions survive and even thrive with proper 
care, but vegetation ranges with charming prodigality from the 
luscious fruits and vegetables of the Southland to the frost-defy- 
ing firs and spruces of the extreme north. Agriculture may 
never be a leading industry of the territory for the season is too 
short and crops are too uncertain of maturity. Yet below the 

29$ 



296 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

Arctic Circle it is easy to grow enough for food, and even farther 
north herbs and vegetables of quick growth make a rapid and 
even rank response during the short, hot summer. 

Alaska, superficially, is either mountain, plain or archipelago. 
The country between Norton Sound and the Arctic Ocean is a 
vast moorland with numerous bogs and peat beds. The Yukon 
basin is a broad, alluvial plain with a rich soil of unknown depth. 
The islands and the adjacent coasts are generally rocky, but not 
sterile. Magnificent timber abounds in the uplands and along 
the lower coasts and summer from the Arctic Circle south is a 
jubilee of luxuriant herbage and beautiful plants and flowers. 

In the Southeast. 

In the southeastern portion of the territory nearly all the 
vegetables, herbs, grasses and smaller fruits of the middle tem- 
perate zone flourish without stint or extra care. Potatoes, car- 
rots, beets, parsnips, radishes, lettuce and turnips grow large and 
sweet. Cabbages weighing seven pounds are on record and all 
" garden truck," in fact, except cucumbers and beans, does well. 
The best arable land in the territory is in this region, and in 
several districts agriculture is carried on with considerable suc- 
cess on a fairly extensive scale. Timothy, blue-joint, wood- 
meadow, marsh and the Kentucky blue-grass raise rank crops, 
and clover has done well wherever tried. These afford unex- 
celled grazing in summer and the best of fodder in the winter 
for stock. Cattle thrive in this climate, but sheep, despite the 
excellent feed, suffer from the extreme moisture which rots their 
hoofs. There is a poultry ranch at Fort Wrangel. 

This region is noted for its bountiful berry crops. Red and 
black currants, raspberries, strawberries, huckleberries, Killi- 
kinick berries, bearberries, dewberries, heathberries, mossberries, 
roseberries, salmonberries and cranberries grow abundantly. 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 297 

The Indians gather the salmonberries for local trade, and large 
quantities of cranberries are annually picked and sent down the 
coast. 

The timber of the southeast is remarkable for its size and 
general excellence. The spruce, hemlock, red and yellow cedar, 
poplar, alder, willow, birch, larch and pine abound of great size 
and general excellence. Nearly all the barrels for the salmon 
canneries and salteries are manufactured from the Alaskan spruce 
and an excellent quality of shingles is also made from the same 
wood. The yellow cedar, because of its peculiar hardness and 
lightness is highly prized by the Indians for their paddles, which 
in the peculiarly dangerous navigation of the intricate and swift 
waterways, need to be of the best material to insure immunity 
from serious and often fatal mishaps afloat. 

This yellow cedar is also a very beautiful wood when polished, 
easy to work, of a bright canary and delightful odor, and is 
esteemed in the manufacture of furniture and all sorts of fancy 
articles. It possesses also another point of excellence which, 
being strictly utilitarian, bids fair some day to largely deprive the 
arts of its use. It is one of the few known woods which the de- 
structive teredo refuses to attack and hence is invaluable for 
piling. Except for its expensiveness it would long ago have 
run the Oregon pine out of the market for this purpose. 

Making a Canoe. 

Out of these great cedars the Southern Alaskan natives also 
hew their huge canoes. The task is long and laborious, but the 
finished vessel has been rightly deemed a work of boat builders' 
art, and, for the waters where it is used, is unequalled. No 
journey in these canoes seems long or hazardous enough to 
appal the Indian voyageur ; in fact, the natives have been known, 
on their forays, to paddle in them as far as Puget Sound and 



298 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

back again. To make a canoe a large and perfectly symmetrical 
log is chosen and properly beached. The outside is shaped with 
a heavy axe and then the inside is roughly hollowed out with 
fire and tools. Then with a small, home-made hand adze the 
boat carpenter goes over the entire vessel, inside and out, care- 
fully chipping away until the smooth and perfect outline has 
been produced throughout. The boat is then steamed by filling 
it with water into which heated stones are dropped, and the final 
shaping or " spreading " is given by putting in the cross braces 
while the wood is thus pliant. Some of these single log canoes 
are forty-two feet in length. 

A peculiar feature of these southeastern forests, noticed by the 
first white explorers, and for a time a scientific puzzle, was found 
in the great number of yellow cedar trees standing outwardly 
dead and yet not decaying, but sound to the core. It was finally 
ascertained that this was due to the thickly overshadowing 
branches of the taller surrounding spruce and hemlock, slowly 
smothering the cedars to death. 

Reserve Lumber Region. 

Alaska is the great reserve lumber region of the United States. 
William H. Seward, returning from a trip to Alaska, said in a 
public address : 

" I venture to predict that the North Pacific coast will become 
a common shipyard for the American continent and speedily for 
the whole world. Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the Atlantic 
American States have either exhausted or are exhausting their 
native supplies of timber and lumber. Their last and only 
resort must be to the North Pacific. Then the country will 
appreciate these thousands of square miles of cedar, spruce, 
hemlock and balsam firs." 

Although in the mountainous interior vegetation and fauna 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 299 

partake of Arctic characteristics, near the sea in the southeast the 
summer is a season of delicious sounds, and sweet perfumes, the 
voices of birds, ripple of running water, and music of waving 
branches making it difficult for the traveler to believe that he is 
in the marches of the Empire of Ice. The flowers and orchids 
are almost tropical in the luxuriance and beauty. 

In the Aleutian Islands the cereals will not mature, though 
numerous and persistent experiments to that end have been 
made. Vegetation of speedier growth flourishes in season, and 
the grasses are especially rank in growth. The state of the 
stock industry, however, is problematical. The timber of the 
islands is similar to that of the mainland, both as to variety and 
size. 

On the Kadiak Islands are great forests and vast grassy plains 
where cattle thrive with little feeding and shelter. Sheep also 
do well here, except for a tendency to hoof rot. 

Summer in the Yukon. 

The brief summer in the Yukon Basin, enduring only from the 
middle of June to the first of September, presents an unending 
panorama of extraordinary picturesqueness and beauty. The 
banks are fringed with flowers, carpeted with the all pervading 
moss. Birds, countless in numbers, and of bewildering variety 
of plumage, pipe out a song from every treetop. Let the voy- 
ageur pitch his tent where he will in summer, a bunch of roses, 
a clump of poppies, and a bud of bluebells will adorn the camping. 

High above this almost tropical floral exuberance, giant glaciers 
sleep in the summits of the mountain wall which rises from a 
bed of blossoms. In September they waken and everything is 
changed. The roses disappear before the frosty breath from the 
peaks, the birds fly to the southland, and mountain, and plain, 
hide for the long winter beneath a sheet of snow, 



300 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

In the Yukon basin vegetables of the hardier sorts do fairly- 
well. Turnips, radishes and salad plants and even potatoes have 
been successfully cultivated at St. Michael's and at Fort Yukon. 

At Fort Selkirk, on the British side, gardening has become a 
science and the results are pleasing in size and variety. The 
whole Yukon basin raises fine berries and grass, but other crops 
are hard to mature, and though the fodder is plenty and good, 
the long winter precludes success in stock raising. It is believed 
the dairy industry would thrive, however. 

The timber of the Yukon is principally willow, alder, cotton- 
wood, spruce, low fir, hemlock and birch. North of the basin 
the growths become stunted and finally disappear. 

Dr. Jackson's View. 

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, Commissioner of Education, has given 
to the Department of Agriculture, his views of the agricultural 
possibilities of Alaska as follows : 

" The warmest friends of Alaska do not claim that it is rich in 
agricultural resources, or that it will agriculturally bear com- 
parison with the rich valleys of the Mississippi River ; but they 
do claim that while there are large areas of mountains and unpro- 
ductive land agriculturally, yet there are valleys and plains 
where, with suitable care, many of the earlier vegetables, fruits, 
and grains can be raised. 

" On Kadiak, on adjacent islands, and on the shores of Cook's 
Inlet, where there are small Russian Creole settlements, they 
have for three-quarters of a century supplied themselves with 
vegetable food from their own gardens. 

" Not only in the mild belt of Southern Alaska, but also in 
the arctic and subarctic belt of Northern Alaska, various wild 
berries grow and ripen in profusion (cranberries, currants, rasp- 
berries, huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries), and there is no 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 301 



question that if the government places Alaska on an equal foot- 
ing with the other States and Territories in the establishment of 
one or more experimental stations it will be demonstrated that 
sufficient vegetables can be raised for the consumption of its peo- 
ple. And if there is found a section so far north that the profit- 
able raising of vegetables and grains becomes impossible, that 
region can be utilized by the introduction of herds of domestic 
reindeer. 

" Taking Norway and Sweden, where complete statistics are 
to be had, as a basis of calculation, and applying the same aver- 
age to Alaska, it is found the country is capable of sustaining 
9,200,000 head of reindeer, which will support a population of 
287,500 living like the Laps of Lapland. 

"The stocking of Alaska with tame reindeer means the open- 
ing up of the vast and almost inaccessible central region of North- 
ern and Central Alaska to white settlers and civilization and the 
opening up of a vast commercial industry. Lapland, with 
400,000 reindeer, supplies the grocery stores of Northern Europe 
with smoked reindeer hams, smoked tongues, dried and tanned 
hides, and 23,000 carcasses per annum to the butcher shops. 
On the same basis, Alaska, with its capacity of 9,200,000 head 
of reindeer, can supply the markets of North America with 
500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together with tons of de- 
licious hams and tongues and finest leather." 

Dall's Statement. 

William H. Dall, of the Smithsonian Institution, wrote as fol- 
lows : 

" I am convinced, after careful inspection, that Alaska is a far 
better country than much of Great Britain and Norway and even 
part of Prussia. Excepting for the extreme cold in midwinter of 
the interior, the Alaskan climate and productions are not unlike 



302 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

those of the northwestern part of Scotland or the Shetlands and 
Orkneys." 

As the Canadian territory contiguous to Alaska is at present 
the site of the gold craze and contains many of the avenues by 
which access is had to the British Klondike, the interest attach- 
ing to this alien region at the headwaters of the Yukon warrants 
a few words in notice of its flora and agricultural possibilities. 

Surveyor Ogilvie's Report. 

William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, reported on this 
region to the Canadian Department of the Interior, as follows : 

u The agricultural capabilities of the country along the river 
are not great, nor is the land that can be seen from the river of 
good quality. When we consider further the unsuitable climatic 
conditions that prevail in the region, it may be said that as an 
agricultural district this portion of the country will never be of 
any value. 

" My meteorological records show over eight degrees of frost 
on August ist, over ten on the 3d, and four times during the 
month the minimum temperature was below freezing. 

"Along the east side of Lake Bennett, opposite the Chilkoot 
or western arm, there are some flats of dry gravelly soil, which 
would make a few farms of limited extent. On the west side, 
around the mouth of the Wheaton River, there is an extensive 
flat of sand and gravel, covered with small pine and spruce of 
stunted growth. 

" Along the westerly shore of Tagish Lake there is a large 
extent of low, swampy flats, a part of which might be used for 
the production of such roots and cereals as the climate would 
permit. Along the west side of Marsh Lake there is also much 
flat surface of the same general character, on which I saw some 
coarse grass which would serve as food for cattle. Along the 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 303 

east side the surface appeared higher and terraced, and is probably 
less suited to the requirements of the agriculturist. Along the 
head of the river, for some miles below Marsh Lake, there are 
flats on both sides, which would, as far as surface conformation 
goes, serve as farms. The soil is of much better quality than 
any heretofore seen, as is proven by the larger and thicker growth 
of timber and underbrush which it supports. The soil bears less 
the character of detritus, and more that of alluvium, than that 
seen above. 

" Some miles down the lake an extensive valley joins that of 
the lake on the west side. This valley contains a small stream. 
Around this place there is some land that might be useful, as 
the grass and vegetation is much better than any seen so far. 

f? On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there is also 

a considerable plain which might be utilized ; the soil in parts of 

it is good. I saw one part where the timber had been burned 

some time ago ; here both the soil and vegetation were good, 

and two or three of the plants seen are common in this part of 

Ontario, but they had not the vigorous appearance which the same 

plants have East. 

In Ogilvie Valley. 

" Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep, wide 
valley, which Dr. Dawson has named ' Ogilvie Valley.' In this 
the mixed timber, poplar and spruce, is of a size which betokens 
a fair soil ; the herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this 
region. This valley is extensive, and, if ever required as an aid 
in the sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the dis- 
trict's agricultural assets. 

" Below the lake the valley of the river is not, as a rule, wide, 
and the banks are often steep and high. There are, however, 
many flats of modern extent along the river and at its confluence 
with other streams. The soil of many of these is fair. 



304 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

" About forty miles above the mouth of the Pelly River there 
is an extensive flat on both sides of the Lewis. The soil here 
is poor and sandy, with small open timber. At Pelly River there 
is a flat of considerable extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk 
stand. It is covered with a small growth of poplar and a few 
spruce. The soil is a gravelly loam of about eight inches in 
depth, the subsoil being gravel, evidently detritus. This flat 
extends up the river for some miles, but is all covered thickly 
with timber, except a small piece around the site of the fort. 

Vegetables for Miners. 

" I think ten townships, or 360 square miles, would be a very 
liberal estimate of all the places mentioned along the river. 
This gives us 230,400 acres, or, say, 1000 farms. The available 
lands on the affluents of the rivers would probably double this, 
or give 2000 farms in that part of our territory, but on most of 
these farms the returns would be meager. Without the dis- 
covery and development of large mineral wealth it is not likely 
that the slender agricultural resources of the country will ever 
attract attention. In the event of such discovery, however, 
some of the land might be used for the production of vegetable 
food for the miners, but even in that case, with the transport 
facilities which the district commands, it is very doubtful if it 
could compete successfully with the South and East. 

" The amount of timber fit for use in building and manufac- 
uring in the district along the river is not at all important. There 
is a large extent of forest which would yield firewood and timber 
for use in mines, but for the manufacture of lumber there is very 
little. 

" To give an idea of its scarceness, I may state that two of 
my party made a thorough search of all the timbered land 
around the head of Lake Bennett, and down the lake for over ten 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 305 

miles, and in all this search only one tree was found suitable for 
making such plank as we required for the construction of our 
large boat. This tree made four planks, fifteen inches wide at the 
butt, seven at the top, and thirty-one feet long. 

" Such other planks as we wanted had to be cut out of short 
logs, of which some, ten to fourteen inches in diameter and ten 
to sixteen feet long, could be found at long intervals. The boat 
required only 450 feet of plank for its construction, yet some of 
the logs had to be carried nearly 200 yards, and two saw-pits 
had to be made before that quantity was procured, and this on 
ground that was all thickly wooded with spruce, pine and some 
balsam, the latter being generally the largest and cleanest- 
trunked. 

" The great bulk of the timber in the district suitable for manu- 
facture into lumber is to be found on the islands in the river. 
On them the soil is warmer and richer, the sun's rays striking 
the surface for a much longer time and more directly than on 

the banks. 

Quantity of Timber. 

" To estimate the quantity of timber in the vicinity of the 
river in our territory would be an impossible task, having only 
such data as I was able to collect on my way down. I would, 
however, say that one-fourth of the area I have given as agricul- 
tural land would be a fair conjecture. This would give us two 
and one-half townships, or ninety square miles, of fairly well- 
timbered ground ; but it must be borne in mind that there is not 
more than a square mile or so of that in any one place, and 
most of the timber would be small and poor compared with the 
timber of Manitoba and the easterly part of the Northwest 
Territories. 

" It may be said that the country might furnish much timber, 
which, though not fit to be classed as merchantable, would meet 
20 



306 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

many of the requirements of the only industry the country is 
ever likely to have — viz. : mining." 

The native animal life of Alaska, whether of land or sea, fish 
or fowl, is in general that of a northern country with its peculiar 
climatic conditions. The fur bearing land animals and amphib- 
ians are important, and the fisheries are not surpassed. The 
insect life partakes of a tropical nature and in summer time the 
pest of mosquitos and gnats is almost unbearable. There is 
some compensation in the absence of snakes from the territory. 

Alaska's first value in the eyes of civilization was in its furs 
of land and sea, and for a century the fur industries were the 
chief occupation of the Russian colonists and their aboriginal 
allies. Only within a decade has gold been a rival to furs in the 
territory. 

The fur producing amphibians are principally the valuable and 
comparatively rare sea otter and the fur seal, the ambition of 
every woman's heart on two continents and the cause of a 
hundred years of international complications. The fur of the 
sea otter is among the most beautiful and highly prized known, 
and until within a very few years has brought enormous prices 
in the London market. Of the fur of the seal it is unnecessary 
to speak further than to say that it is still the basis of the most 
extensive commerce, and it furnishes a livelihood ashore and 
afloat to many thousands of hands, and employment to many 
millions of capital. 

The Sea Otter. 

The sea otter was once abundant along the whole southeastern 
and southwestern coast of Alaska, how abundant may be 
gathered from the fact that the estimated total value of all the 
sea otter skins taken up to 1890 is $36,000,000. The Russians 
encouraged the natives to slaughter the valuable animal, and the 




307 



308 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

Yankee fishers and their British brethren were no more inclined 
to mercy or thrift than the Muscovites. Gradually the furry 
amphibian was driven from the southeastern archipelago until 
to-day the chief and, in fact, almost the only grounds where it is 
successfully hunted are along the Aleutian chain and to the 
eastward in the neighborhood of Kadiak Island and the mouth 
of the Copper River. 

La Perouse sent the first sea otter skins home to France in 
1788. Their magnificent beauty soon made them the talk of 
the courts of Europe, and as they were easily approached by 
hunters in those early days their slaughter grew apace with the 
demand. The female otter is very tender of its young and, 
sailors say, often gathers the little one upon its breast between 
its fore legs and floating on its back on the water, croons a 
lullaby to the baby otter which the hunters aver is almost human 

in its tones. 

Romance of the Otter. 

A bit of romance which colored the lives of the native women 
in the early days of the Russian occupation of Alaska was due 
entirely to the sea otter. The right to hunt them was proscribed 
to all except natives or the husbands of native wives. As the 
pursuit was exceedingly profitable and the women not altogether 
bad looking, there came about a marrying epidemic among the 
white sailors, especially the Scandinavians, which gave the dark- 
skinned belles a chance to be courted into a home of their own, 
which it is safe to say they had never enjoyed before. From 
these unions grew up a race of hardy half-breed otter hunters 
whose prowess is still famous on the coast. 

The fur seal, $47,000,000 worth of whose skins had been 
taken up to 1890, once had a habitat coextensive with that of 
the sea otter, but like the latter has been driven to the westward, 
and now only an occasional specimen is seen in the waters of the 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 309 

southeastern archipelago. Its principal Alaskan resting places 
are now the Islands of St. Paul and St. George and the adjacent 
rookeries. 

Other seals which are native to Alaskan waters are the hair, 
leopard, saddle and big black seal or maklak. They are hunted 
by the natives for their skins, but the fur is of small commercial 
value. 

Land Animals. 

The land animals, native to Alaska, include several species of 
the fox, the land otter, beaver, brown, black, cinnamon, grizzly 
and polar bears, mink, marten or sable, lynx, wolverine, muskrat, 
marmat, ermine, squirrel, moose, caribou, deer, mountain sheep, 
mountain goat, barren ground caribou, musk-ox and wolf. The 
Esquimo dog, though comparatively domesticated, is also entitled 
to a place among the native animals of the territory. Some of 
the animals enumerated are of value for their skins or for food ; 
otters are merely the brute Ishmaels of the wilderness. 

The black, or silver fox (the same species with different mark- 
ings), is easily the king of the vulpine Alaskans. Traffic in its 
skins makes up the bulk of the fur trade of the Yukon Basin. 
They are the highest priced of any of the native fox skins. The 
red fox is found all over the territory and has even been known 
to take a voyage over to the Aleutian Islands on an opportunely 
drifting ice cake. Its skin is as cheap as it is plenty. The cross 
fox, so named because it is a cross between the black and red, 
is likewise all over the country, and likewise cheap. The Arctic 
fox, both white and blue, is found on the mainland and in the 
Seal and Aleutian Islands. Its skin has little value. General 
characteristics of the Alaskan foxes are their perpetual famine, 
their absolutely omniverous taste and their lack of shyness which 
often leads to unpleasant experiences for " tenderfeet " when 
camping out. The Alaskan Commercial Company ten years 



310 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

ago established a " fox farm " on Semidi Island, bringing the 
black, blue and silver colonists from the mainland and leaving 
them to multiply. The venture is said to have proved a financial 
success. 

Otter and Bears. 

The land otter, whose skin has considerable commercial value, 
both for itself and because of the ease with which it can be 
made into an imitation of seal skin, is found along the whole 
coast, among the islands, especially around Kadiak, and in the 
Yukon Basin. 

The habitat of the beaver is within the timber limit. The 
demand and supply in this fur are growing less together and the 
skins are cheap. The old currency of the territory was beaver 
skins and the denominations are worth recalling as a matter of 
curiosity. One beaver was worth four mink, two marten or two 
white fox skins ; a beaver and a half was equal to one red fox 
and three beaver skins were fair exchange for a land otter. 

The brown bear is found all over the territory, and his pelts 
are plentiful and cheap. Like all the Alaskan carnivorse, he is a 
good fisher and can be found hanging around the salmon and 
trout streams in season. He is the great road maker of the 
country and his broad trails over plains and through swamps are 
of no little use to travelers. The black bear is widely at home 
on the mainland, generally in the timber, and his skin brings high 
prices. The grizzly bear is found in the southeast. 

The mink, which is common on the mainland, and the 
marten, which sticks close to standing timber, both supply 
cheap furs. 

The animals of Alaska are all diligently hunted by the Indians 
and Esquimo for the flesh and for the skins, which form the natural 
clothing of the aborigines. Those whose flesh is edible, as well 
as the more valuable fur-bearers, are also the white hunter's 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 311 

quarries, and the double chase is beginning to tell on the numbers 
of some of the species. 

The moose and caribou are found in the Yukon basin and now 
and then furnish a dainty variety to the post trader or the miner 
for his menu. Deer are found mainly in the southeast, where 
the mountain sheep and goat are also comparatively plentiful. All 
are hunted for their flesh and skins. 

Mrs. Frederick Schwatka says of the game in the Yukon basin : 
." The great Yukon Valley has but little game in it during the 
summer, for the mosquitos drive all game to higher altitudes. 
Formerly during the winter season a living could be made by 
experienced hunters in bringing moose and caribou meat to camp. 
I heard one miner say, who had spent four winters on the Yukon, 
that he had seen moose and caribou so numerous on the bald 
hills above timber limit, in the present gold field district, that they 
gave the snow a mottled, gray appearance. Of course these 
have now disappeared with the advance of civilization, and fresh 
meat of any kind is now at a premium." 

Canadian Fauna. 

Dominion Land Surveyor Ogilvie's official report on the fauna 
of the Canadian territory adjacent to Alaska is as follows : 

" The principal furs procured in the district are the silver-gray 
and black fox, the number of which bears a greater ratio to the 
number of red foxes than in any other part of the country. The 
red fox is very common, and a species called the blue is very 
abundant near the coast. Marten, or sable, are also numerous, 
as are lynx ; but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown. 

" It is probable that the value of gray and black fox skins 
taken out of the country more than equals in value all the other 
furs. I could get no statistics concerning this trade for obvious 
reasons. 



312 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

" Game is not now as abundant as before mining began, and it 
is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river. 

"A boom in mining would soon exterminate the game in the 
district along the river. 

" There are two species of caribou in the country ; one, the 
ordinary kind, found in most parts of the Northwest, and said 
to much resemble the reindeer ; the other, called the ' wood 
caribou,' a much larger and more beautiful animal. Except that 
the antlers are much smaller, it appears to me to resemble the 
elk or wapiti. 

" The ordinary caribou runs in herds, often numbering hun- 
dreds. 

Bear in Abundance. 

" There are four species of bear found in the district — the 
grizzly, brown, black and a small kind, locally known as the 
' silver- tip,' the latter being gray in color, with a white throat 
and beard, whence its name. It is said to be fierce, and not to 
wait to be attacked, but to attack on sight. I had not the pleas- 
ure of seeing any, but heard many ' yarns ' about them, some of 
which, I think, were 'hunters' tales.' It appears, however, that 
miners and Indians, unless traveling in numbers, or especially 
well armed, give them as wide a berth as they conveniently can. 

" Wolves are not plentiful. A few of the common gray 
species only are killed, the black being very scarce. 

" The Arctic rabbit or hare is sometimes found, but they are 
not numerous. There is a curious fact in connection with the 
ordinary hare or rabbit which I have observed but of which I 
have never yet seen any satisfactory explanation. Their numbers 
vary from a very few to myriads, in periods of seven years." 

The Alaskan birds include the grause, ptarmigan, snipe, mal- 
lard and teal duck, goose, loon, gray and bald eagle, sea parrot, 
gulls, auks and many other sea fowls. One of the ornithological 




313 



314 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

wonders of the territory last year was a pair of humming birds 
which nested in Sitka. The sea birds supply the Indians with a 
profitable pursuit gathering their eggs from the rocks. The 
eggs are a staple article of diet with the natives. 

The piscatorial wealth of Alaska ranks next to the furs. The 
food fishes are numerous, but the salmon easily leads them all 
in importance, and the canning and drying of this dainty fish 
make the third industry of the territory, gold being now the 
first, of course, and furs the second. 

The first salmon cannery was established at Old Sitka in 
1878, but another was started in 1883 at Kadiak Island, and 
since that time the canneries and salteries (though the salmon 
was never accused of singing like the catfish it still has salteries) 
have spread all along the coast. 

Species of Salmon. 

The king or ■" tyee " salmon has the highest standing in the 
market. Less highly esteemed are the silver or red, cohoe, dog 
and humpback salmon. The cod, which is found all along the 
south shore, comes next in commercial importance. It much 
resembles the cod of the North Atlantic. Halibut are found 
all along the coast, in the channels and to the western extremity 
of the Aleutian Islands at Attu. No great quantity of this fish 
is shipped, but the natives catch it in great numbers, smoke or 
dry the flesh, and esteem it highly for food. Herring are found 
in immense shoals in the bays and estuaries and throughout the 
island chains. They supply material to a large oil and fertilizer 
factory at Killisnoo, the product of which is shipped to the Sandwich 
Islands. The salmon trout is a fish of magnificent size and fine 
flavor and mountain trout are caught freely in the southeast. 
There are also many other edible fish in the waters of the southeast. 

The uliken, or candle fish is found in the southeastern waters, 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 315 

and is highly prized by the Indians for food and medicinal pur- 
poses. It is so oily that it cooks to a turn in its own and is 
said to be then a delicious morsel. The oil has a flavor not 
unlike that of olive, and the natives esteem it highly as a remedy 
for lung troubles and for dyspepsia. 

It would not be fair to the dog-fish to pass him by without at 
least a mention. He is useless for food, even to the strong- 
stomached native, who deems blubber a delicacy and whale oil 
a libation to pour to his heathen gods ; but the dog-fish can stand 
more abuse and make less fuss about it than any other known 
member of the animal kingdom. When by any ill luck a tourist, 
fishing off the wharf at Sitka or Juneau, pulls up a dog-fish on 
his line, some stolid native is sure to beg the prize. The Indian 
rips the squirming dog-fish, takes out his liver to try out for oil, 
and flings him back into the water, where he swims off apparently 
as lively as if he was in the habit of having such things happen 
every day. It is said that the only dog-fish that was ever killed 
at Sitka was one which, having been originally delivered by an 
Indian, insisted on being caught by a white man and hauled up 
and thrown out to a native, as if in mockery of the latter's de- 
sire for liver. The Indian thought the joke had been played 
on him once too often, and smashed the dog-fish's head 
with a stone. A valuable lubricating oil is obtained from the 
dog-fish, and the natives use the skin of its belly for sand- 
paper. 

Finds Vast Fishing Banks. 

The United States steamer Albatross, in making soundings for 
the Coast Survey, developed vast and thitherto unknown fishing 
banks all along the Aleutian Chain. It is on these banks the 
best cod fishing is had. 

Of the cetaceous the whale, beluga or white grampus, and 
porpoise are found all along the Alaskan coast. 



316 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

The regular whale fishing gounds are on the Arctic shore, 
where Herschel Island, at the mouth of the Mackenzie River is 
a common station for all whalers. A large American fleet is 
constantly on the grounds. Black whales often appear in the 
channels around the Southeastern Archipelago in such numbers 
as to terrify the Indians who are out in their canoes. 

The obese walrus, once the principal food supply of the region 
of its habital, has been hunted nearly to extermination. 

Many beluga are taken each season by the Esquimeaux south of 
Norton Sound, with whom it is a food staple. The porpoise is 
also a constant object of the watery chase. 

Crabs and clams are plentiful on the southern coasts, but no 
oysters are found. 

Insect Pests. 

It would be a vital defect in the story of the animal life of 
Alaska if no mention was made of the insects which make life 
a burden in the short, hot summer of the interior. Horseflies, 
gnats and mosquitos nearly drive men and beasts wild. The 
horsefly is larger and more " pointed" than the insect of the 
same name in the States. In dressing or undressing it has the 
pleasant habit of detecting any bare spot in the body and biting 
out a piece of flesh, leaving a wound which in a few days later 
looks like an incipient boil. Schwatka reports that one of his 
party so bitten was completely disabled for a week. "At the 
moment of infliction," he adds, " it was hard to believe that 
one was not disabled for life." 

The mosquitos, according to the same authority, are equally 
distressing. They are especially fond of cattle, but without any 
reciprocity of affection. "According to the general terms of the 
survival of the fittest and the growth of muscles most used to 
the detriment of others," says the lieutenant in an unusual burst 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 317 

of humor, " a band of cattle inhabiting this district in the far 
future would be all tail and no body, unless the mosquitos should 
experience a change of numbers." 

Mrs. Schwatka, in speaking of the trials of the miner's life, 
touches on his sufferings from these insect pests in these words : 
. " Again in summer the work of the miner is difficult. As I 
have said the interior country is tundra land — that is, the earth 
is frozen to a great depth, never entirely thawing out. Wherever 
the sun strikes the surface, great pools of muddy water are 
formed, and this prevents any sort of prospecting. These pools 
of stagnant water breed great swarms of mosquitos and gnats, 
which make it desirable to cover the head with mosquito netting, 
or better still, adopt the Indian method, and smear the hands 
and face with a mixture of grease and soot, which prevents the 
pests from biting. At some seasons in this country they are in 
such dense swarms that at night they will practically cover a 
mosquito netting, fairly touching each other and crowding 
through any kind of mesh. I have heard it asserted by people 
of experience that they form co-operative societies and assist 
each other through the meshes by pushing behind and pulling 
in front. Others again say they are too mean for such generous 
action." 

Climate of Alaska. 

The climate of the Alaskan coast regions is much milder, even 
in the higher latitudes, than it is in the interior or in correspond- 
ing latitudes on the Atlantic coast. This is easily explainea and 
understood when the natural forces of production of this milder 
temperature are contemplated. 

The most important among them is the thermal current 
resembling the Atlantic Gulf Stream, and known as the Japanese 
or Kuro Siwo, or Black Water. It has its origin under the 
equator near the Molucca and Philippine Islands, passes north- 



318 FLORA, FAUNA AND ^CLIMATE. 

ward along the coast of Japan, and crosses the Pacific to the 
southward of the Aleutian Islands, after sending a branch 
through Behring Sea. On the coast of British Columbia it 
divides again, one branch turning north toward Sitka, and thence 
westward to the Kadiak and Shumagin Islands. 

The comparatively warm waters of these currents affect the 
temperature of the superjacent atmosphere, which, absorbing 
the latent heat, carries it to the coast with all its mollifying 
effects. Thus the oceanic and atmospheric currents combine in 
mitigating the coast climate of Alaska, while the almost impene- 
trable barrier of lofty mountains deflects the ice-laden northern 
gales from the interior. 

The mean winter temperature of Sitka is slightly above 30 
degrees, while that of Portland, Maine, is about 27 degrees. 
The lowest in winter in 1889, in Sitka, was 3 degrees ; in Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, 7 degrees ; and in Portland, Maine, 1 5 degrees. 

Weather Bureau Report. 

Under the direction of Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, 
Willis L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, makes public 
the following : 

" The general conception of Alaskan climate is largely due to 
those who follow the sea, and this is not strange when we con- 
sider the vast extent of short line (over 26,000 miles) possessed 
by that territory. 

" The climate of the coast and the interior is unlike in many 
respects, and the differences are intensified in this, as, perhaps, 
in few other countries, by exceptional physical conditions. 

" The natural contrast between land and sea is here tremend- 
ously increased by the current of warm water that impinges on 
the coast of British Columbia, one branch flowing northward 
toward Sitka, and thence westward to the Kadiak and Shumagin 




319 



320 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

Islands. The fringe of islands that separates the mainland from 
the Pacific Ocean, from Dixon Sound northward, and also a strip 
of the mainland for possibly twenty miles back from the sea, 
following the sweep of the coast as it curves to the northwest- 
ward, to the western extremity of Alaska, form a distinct 
climatic division which may be termed temperate Alaska. 

" The temperature rarely falls to zero. Winter does not set 
in until December ist, and by the last of May the snow has dis- 
appeared, except on the mountains. The mean winter tempera- 
ture of Sitka is 32.5 degrees, but little less than that of Washing- 
ton, D. C. While Sitka is fully exposed to the sea influences, 
places farther inland, but not over the coast range of mountains, 
as Killisnoo and Juneau have also a mild temperature throughout 
the winter months. 

Small Changes of Temperature. 

" The temperature changes from month to month in Alaska 
are small, not exceeding 25 degrees from midwinter to mid- 
summer. The average temperature of July, the warmest month 
of summer, rarely reaches 5 5 degrees, and the highest tempera- 
ture for a single day seldom reaches 75 degrees. 

" The rainfall of temperate Alaska is notorious the world over, 
and not only as regards the quantity but also as to the manner 
of its falling — viz. : in long and incessant rains and drizzles. 
Cloud and fog naturally abound, there being on an average but 
sixty-six clear days in the year. 

" Alaska is a country of striking contrasts, both in climate as 
well as topography. When the sun shines the atmosphere is 
remarkably clear, the scenic effects are magnificent ; all nature 
seems to be in holiday attire. But the scene may change very 
quickly. The sky becomes overcast, the winds increase in 
force, rain begins to fall, the evergreens sigh ominously, and 
utter desolation and loneliness prevail. 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 321 

" North of the Aleutian Islands the coast climate becomes 
more rigorous in winter, but in summer the difference is much 
less marked. Thus, at St. Michael's, a short distance above the 
mouth of the Yukon, the mean summer temperature is 50 
degrees, but four degrees cooler than Sitka. The mean summer 
temperature of Point Barrow, the most northerly point in the 
United States, is 36.8 degrees, but four-tenths of a degree less than 
the temperature of the air flowing across the summit of Pike's 
Peak, Colorado. The rainfall of the coast region north of the 
Yukon delta is small, diminishing to less than ten inches within 
the Arctic Circle. 

" The climate of the interior, including in that designatior 
practically all of the country except a narrow fringe of coasta. ! 
margin and the territory before referred to as temperate Alaska, 
is one of extreme rigor in winter, with a brief but relatively hot 
summer, especially when the sky is free from clouds. 

" In the Klondike region in midwinter the sun rises from 9:3c 
to 10 a.m. and sets from 2 to 3 p. m., the total length of day- 
light being about four hours. Remembering that the sun rises 
but a few degrees above the horizon, and that it is wholly 
obscured on a great many days, the character of the winter 
months may easily be imagined. 

Temperature on Yukon. 

" We are indebted to the United States Coast and Geodetic 
Survey for a series of six months' observations on the Yukon, 
not far from the site of the present gold discoveries. The obser- 
vations were made with standard instruments, and are wholly 
reliable. The mean temperature of the months October, 1889, to 
April, 1890, both inclusive, areas follows: October, 33 degrees; 
November, 8 degrees ; December, 1 1 degrees, below zero ; Jan- 
uary, 17 below zero; February, 15 below zero; March, 6 above; 
21 



322 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 

April, 20 above. The daily mean temperature fell and remained 
below the freezing point (32 degrees) from November 4, 1889, to 
April 21, 1890, thus giving 168 days as the length of the closed 
season of 1889— '90, assuming that outdoor operations are con- 
trolled by temperature only. The lowest temperatures registered 
during the winter were : Thirty-two degrees below zero in No- 
vember, 47 below in December, 59 below in January, 55 below 
in February, 45 below in March, and 26 below in April. 

"The greatest continuous cold occurred in February, 1890, 
when the daily mean for five consecutive days was 47 below zero. 

" Greater cold than that here noted has been experienced in 
the United States for a very short time, but never has it continued 
so very cold for so long a time in the interior of Alaska. The 
winter sets in as early as September, when snow-storms may be 
expected in the mountains and passes. Headway during one of 
these storms is impossible, and the traveler who is overtaken by 
one of them is indeed fortunate if he escapes with his life. 
Snow-storms of great severity may occur in any month from 
September to May, inclusive. 

" The changes of temperature from winter to summer are 
rapid, owing to the great increase in the length of the day. In 
May the sun rises at about 3 a. m. and sets about 9 p. m. In 
June it rises about half-past 1 in the morning and sets about half- 
past 10, giving about twenty hours of daylight and diffuse twi- 
light the remainder of the time. 

" The mean summer temperature in the interior doubtless 
ranges between 60 and 70 degrees, according to elevation, being 
highest in the middle and lower Yukon valleys." 

Dominion Climate. 

Describing the country in the coast range mountains near 
Taiya Inlet, Dominion Surveyor Ogilvie writes : 



FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 323 

" It is said by those familiar with the locality that the storms 
which rage in the upper altitudes of the coast range during the 
greater part of the time from October to March are terrific. A 
man caught in one of them runs the risk of losing his life, unless 
he can reach shelter in a short time. 

" During the summer there is nearly always a wind blowing 
from the sea up Chatham Strait and Lynn Canal, which lie in 
almost a straight line with each other, and at the head of Lynn 
Canal are Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets. The distance from the 
coast down these channels to the open sea is about 380 miles. 

The mountains on each side of the water confine the currents 
of air, and deflect inclined currents in the direction of the axis 
of the channel, so that there is nearly always a strong wind 
blowing up the channel. Coming from the sea, this wind is 
heavily charged with moisture, which is precipitated when the 
air current strikes the mountains, and the fall of rain and snow 
is consequently very heavy. 

" In Chilkat Inlet there is not much shelter from the south 

wind, which renders it unsafe for ships calling here. Captain 

Hunter told me he would rather visit any other part of the coast 

than Chilkat." 

Mounted Police Report. 

The report of the Canadian Mounted Police shows that on 
twenty-four days during the winter of 1896-97, the thermometer 
registered 50 degrees or more below zero. The report con- 
tinues : 

" Apparently the temperature first touched zero on November 
10th, and the last zero recorded in the spring was on April 29th. 

Between December 1 9th and February 6th it never rose above 
zero. The lowest actual point, 65 degrees, occurred on January 
27th and on twenty-four days during the winter the temperature 
was below 50 degrees." 



CHAPTER XL 
Industries and Industrial Development. 

Chief Occupations of the Natives and the Settlers — The Four Remarkable 
Seal Islands — How the Animals Have Been Ruthlessly Slaughtered — 
When the Fur is at Its Best — The Great Fishing Plants of the Country — 
Alaska the Home of the Salmon — Cod and Other Fish Abound — Trap- 
ping and Hunting on the Decline — Current Belief that the Outlook 
for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability that this Opinion may be Re- 
versed by Later Discovery — Trees on the Islands — Agricultural Develop- 
ment one of the Great Needs at the Present Time — Land Simply Needs 
Tilling — Vegetables and Berries Grown in Quantities — Reports of 
Travelers. 

THE resources of Alaska are, as has been shown in another 
chapter, as diversified and remarkable as the surface of its 
vast district. With a few noteworthy exceptions, how- 
ever, these resources are largely undeveloped. 

The country is so remote, its fastnesses have been so inaccessi- 
ble, the lack of transit facilities has imposed such a barrier on 
imigration, that few are the hardy souls who have traversed its 
boundless plains, its mighty rivers and its snow-capped mountains ; 
and still fewer are the capitalists who have had the hardihood to 
seek the country for investment. 

The result is that in most lines of industry the possibilities of 
the country are largely a matter of conjecture. 

Two or three occupations received early attention and have 
been followed systematically. The Russians recognized the value 
of the fur- bearing animals and were pioneers in the enterprise 
that John Jacob Astor made so memorable throughout the North- 
west. The wealth of fish in the vast rivers of the country also 
appealed to the commercial sense of the Russians. The same is 
true of the seal islands, from which such revenue was derived in 
the days of Russian occupation. 

324 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. G25 

The mineral wealth of the Territory has only in a limited 
measure tempted the capital of more civilized communities, with 
the exception of gold mining. The story, therefore, of the in- 
dustries of the country would be a meager one were it not in a 
large measure told in the language of opinion and prophecy. A 
resume is here given of the interests that have claimed attention 
outside the gold fields, and a forecast of the future on other 

lines. 

The Four Seal Islands. 

The much-talked-of seal islands are one of the features of 
Alaska. These are four volcanic islands, which lie 220 miles 
northwest of Unalaska. They are veiled in perpetual mists and 
fogs in the summer season and are closely hedged round with 
drift ice in winter. They are absolutely treeless, but are covered 
with moss and grass, and in the proper season are brilliant with 
wild flowers. 

Hundreds of thousands of seals gather annually on these 
islands, and the slaughter grounds, where millions of seals have 
been killed in the last century, are rarely visited except by those 
engaged in the business and by a few hardy tourists. The odors 
of these rookeries, as they are called, can be perceived far out at 
sea, and not infrequently the barking of the animals is the mari- 
ner's only guide in the dense fogs that settle over the waters. 

No vessels other than those belonging to the government are 
allowed to enter or even to approach the harbors. The largest 
of the islands is called St. Paul, and is twelve miles long and 
from six to eight miles wide. St. George Island, thirty miles 
north, is a little smaller ; and between these two lie Otter and 
Walrus Islands. 

Practically the only inhabitants of the islands are the Aleuts, 
who have rather tidy villages, Greek churches and school houses. 
The islands are the government reserve, and are leased by the 



326 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

United States Treasury Department for the term of twenty years. 
It has been said, and that with truth, that for over a century 
these four islands have yielded more wealth than any gold mine 
in the world. 

With the settlement of the northwest coast, however, the pros- 
perity of the islands has somewhat diminished, for the reason 
that the seals have been exterminated ruthlessly. 

A word here about the discovery of these islands. For forty 
years Siberian traders hunted for the fabled island of Amik, where, 
it was believed, the sea bears lived. In 1786 Gerassim Pribylov 
heard the barking of the animals through the fog and found the 
summer home of the fur seals. It is said that 2,000,000 seals 
were killed that year, and the wholesale destruction of the animals 
has practically kept up ever since, barring a short interim when 
steps were taken of a preventive character to allow the rookeries 
time to recuperate . 

In 1835 the islands were ringed with ice so that the seals 
could not land and their offspring died in the surf with their 
mothers. Some years later the herd was nearly extinct again. 
In 1 844 Sir George Simpson found the company having control 
over the islands taking from 2CO,ooo to 300,000 skins annually. 
The market at that time was so overstocked that the skins did 
not pay for carrying. 

In cases of a glut of the market there have been times when 
from 700,000 to 1,000,000 skins were thrown into the sea to 
keep prices up. It was not until about the time of the transfer 
of the country to the United States that the vast importance of 
these four little islands was realized. 

Seven Companies at Work. 

No protection was afforded them in 1868, and at that time 
seven companies had the privilege of devastating the islands and 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 327 

slaughtering the animals. The next year, however, the islands 
were declared a Government reserve, and a guard of soldiers 
was stationed there. In 1870 the islands of St. Paul and St. 
George and the seal fisheries were leased for a period of twenty 
years to the Alaska Commercial Company, of San Francisco. 
This company had previously purchased all the buildings and 
the good will of the Russian-American Fur Company through- 
out Alaska. 

The company was permitted to kill 100,000 seals each year, 
80,000 on St. Paul and 20,000 on St. George, for an annual 
rental of $55,000. It is believed that the company divided from 
$900,000 to $1,000,000 profits each year between twelve original 
stockholders. In 1890 a twenty-year lease was awarded to the 
North American Commercial Company, of San Francisco, at an 
annual rental of $100,000, a tax of $9.62 on each 100,000 skins 
taken, the islands then to return over a million a year to the 
Government, or 14 per cent, on Secretary Seward's investment. 

Miss Skidmore points out the fact that pelagic sealing and 
rookery raiding by the Victoria fleet had so diminished the herd 
that the lessees were only permitted to take 20,000 animals the 
first season, and for three seasons, while the seal question was a 
matter of diplomatic discussion, only the few seals necessary for 
the food supply of the natives were killed. 

Fur at Its Best. 

The seal fur, she also states, is in its best condition immedi- 
ately on the arrival of the animals at the islands, but they assume 
new coats in August, so that they are in fine condition when 
they leave at the end of September. Only male seals from two 
to four years of age are killed. 

The bachelors herd alone, and the natives run in between 
them and the water, in the early morning, and drive them slowly 



328 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

to the killing grounds, where they are dispatched by a blow on 
the head. They are quickly bled and the skins taken to the 
salting house. 

It may be mentioned as a matter of interest that Miss Anna 
Fulcomer, with whom an interview was given in another chap- 
ter, had the privilege of visiting the seal islands and the killing 
grounds. She crept up behind a herd of animals as they were 
sleeping, and softly stroked the ears of a big male. Her caress 
awakened the animal, and, with hissing and barking, he roused 
the rest of the herd, and the whole lot scampered off as fast as 

they could. 

The Fishing Industry. 

The fisheries of the country have been one of the leading 
sources of wealth to the time of the discovery of gold. It is to 
be remembered that productive as sealing has been, a limit has 
been reached in that industry which makes it, and will for some 
time make it, comparatively unproductive. The vast rivers of 
Alaska, however, annually teem with a wealth of fish, and the 
wholesale netting of them seems in nowise to diminish the 
number. 

These fish vary in kind and are excellent in quality, and will, 
therefore, remain a constant source of wealth to the populace. 
In Southern Alaska and along the coast line many very large 
canneries have long been in operation, and their output has been 
something remarkable. There is no reason to believe that there 
will be any falling of in this line of occupation. Thousands of 
people of every nationality are engaged in the fisheries, the 
product of which is sent all over the world. 

Unlike the great mineral wealth of the country, which lies 
hidden from view, and has to await some chance discovery, the 
fish that abound in the waters are open to view, and hence, there 
was no delay in the early development of this industry. Besides 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 329 

this, the canneries are for the most part located near the coast 
line, and hence those engaged in the business were not compelled 
to go hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles over snow-clad 
plains and mountains. 

It was not necessary, further, to import into the country 
expensive machinery, and it was not difficult to get natives and 
other laborers from all over the world to engage in the work of 
catching the fish. As a consequence, Alaska soon built up a 
trade in the line of fisheries that placed it on a rank with the 
greatest fishing centres of the world. 

Home of the Salmon. 

Alaska is the home, practically, of the salmon, of which there 
arc five distinct varieties. It has been pointed out that the 
Pacific salmon and the Pacific trout differ so from the Atlantic 
species that the question has been raised whether there are true 
salmon or trout on that coast, and whether any game laws can be 
enforced under such names. 

The king salmon is generally called the tyee, which means 
chief. It averages from sixty to eighty pounds in the Stikine 
River, and often exceeds one hundred pounds in the Yukon. 
The fish commonly come in pairs and not in great schools, and 
hence it is not the whole pack of any cannery. 

The red salmon is the blueback or Oregon Salmon, and is the 
canners' favorite. It averages from six to ten pounds in weight, 
comes in schools of vast size, and has flesh of a deep red color. 
The silver salmon is the gamiest of the lot, and is the most 
beautiful. Its flesh is pale, but has to be cared for almost imme- 
diately. Otherwise it is unfit for canning purposes. The fish 
always chooses clear water and shows a remarkable agility in 
leaping waterfalls. 

The humpbacked species is the most abundant. It averages 



330 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

from five to ten pounds in weight, and has flesh of a pale color 
which cooks soft, and hence is not very desirable for packing 
purposes. This fish has been known to jump falls sixteen feet 
high. In addition to these salmon there are the Dolly Varden 
trout, which follow the salmon in from the sea to devour their 
eggs, and the cut-throat trout, which are often used at the 
canneries. 

Cod in Numbers. 

The cod, which abound in Chatham Creek, are among the 
more important fish of the territory. The natives used to receive 
two cents apiece for the 8000 or 10,000 fish of five pound aver- 
age, which they brought in daily from their trawls. The cod are 
dried artificially, and an excellent quality of cod liver oil is made. 

Herring, too, which have been said to decide the destiny of 
nations, also abound in these waters. They come in great shoals 
or schools, and it is a matter of record that once in August the 
mail steamer passed through one school for four hours, the water 
being silvered as far as could be seen with the fish. 

The natives do not take the trouble to fish for them in the usual 
way with the line and hook or even with nets. They simply rake 
them out with a lath set with nails, and an Indian or two can 
usually fill a canoe in an hour or so. The factory crew at Killis- 
snoo often gets from 300 to 600 barrels of herring at a single 
haul. Often 1000 barrels are seined at once, and it is not a 
great while since 1 500 barrels were taken by one cast of the 
seine in Sitka Harbor. 

There is every reason to believe that the number of people 
engaged in the fisheries in 1 898 will be greater than in any pre- 
ceeding year. As is said, the fish come annually in shoals that 
are simply marvelous in point of extent, and are thus wholly 
unlike the animals that for a long time afforded a source of 
revenue to the hunters and trappers. 




331 



332 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

It may be said here that hunting and trapping, while still pur- 
sued in Alaska, is in a certain sense, a thing of the past. It is 
true, that the country abounds in foxes and bears that make 
trapping for a limited number a remunerative source of employ- 
ment. But the work of the Russians in the early days of the 
country's history and of the men employed by John Jacob Astor, 
has largely reduced the number of animals which would make 
hunting a profitable venture for a great number. The great 
companies of the olden time live now only in recollection, and 
it is thought there is little prospect that their activities will be 
renewed. 

Hunting for sport will doubtless for a long time, claim atten- 
tion, but, even this, in the districts invaded by the prospectors 
and miners, is likely to lose its charms, for reason that the lack 
of fresh meats in the mining camps has virtually made every 
miner and prospector a foe to the animals whose flesh may be 
used for food. In whole sections of the country, where claims 
are now being worked, it is almost impossible to find the first 
sign of game. 

Lumbering Prospects Not Good. 

There also seems to be little prospect for a development of 
the lumbering industry, since there is a marked unwillingness on 
the part of capitalists to invest money in lumbering camps and 
machinery unless the timber possibilities are such as to promise 
good lumber in large amounts and under conditions that make 
its handling not too expensive. This Alaska does not promise. 
William Ogilvie, who made a thorough investigation of what 
may be termed the timber lands of Alaska, speaks discourag- 
ingly of the development of the lumbering industry. He says : 

" The amount of timber fit for use in building and manufac- 
turing in the district along the river is not at all important. 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 333 

There is a large extent of forest which would yield firewood and 
timber for use in mines, but for the manufacture of lumber there 
is very little. 

" To give an idea of its scarceness, I may state that two of 
my party made a thorough search of all the timbered land 
around the head of Lake Bennett, and down the lake for over 
ten miles, and in all this search only one tree was found suitable 
for making such plank as was required for the construction of 
our large boat. This tree made four planks, fifteen inches wide 
at the butt, seven at the top, and thirty -one feet long. 

" Such other planks as we wanted had to be cut out of short 
logs, of which some, ten to fourteen inches in diameter and ten 
to sixteen feet long, could be found at long intervals. The boat 
required only 450 feet of plank for its construction, yet some of 
the logs had to be carried nearly 200 yards, and two saw-pits 
had to be made before that quantity was procured, and this 
on ground that was all thickly wooded with spruce, pine, and 
some balsam, the latter being generally the largest and cleanest- 
trunked. 

Trees on the Islands. 

"The great bulk of the timber in the district suitable for 
manufacture into lumber is to be found on the islands in the 
river. On them the soil is warmer and richer, the sun's rays 
striking the surface for a much longer time and more directly 
than on the banks. 

" To estimate the quantity of timber in the vicinity of the river 
in our territory would be an impossible task, having only such 
data as I was able to collect on my way down. I would, how- 
ever, say that one-fourth of the area I have given as agricultural 
land would be a fair conjecture. This would give us two and a 
half townships, or ninety square miles, of fairly well timbered 
ground ; but it must be borne in mind that there is not more 



334 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

than a square mile or so of that in any one place, and most of 
the timber would be small and poor compared with the timber 
of Manitoba and the easterly part of the northwest Territories. 
" It may be said that the country might furnish much timber, 
which, though not fit to be classed as merchantable, would meet 
many of the requirements of the only industry the country is 
ever likely to have, viz., mining." 

Largely a Mining Region. 

The general impression seems to be that, barring an enormous 
fishing industry, and a possibly limited lumbering trade, the country 
is destined to be largely a mining region. Still, the necessity of 
providing food for the miners has forced upon the attention alike 
of prospectors and capitalists the desirability of developing as far 
as possible in the frozen north some form of agriculture and gar- 
dening that will obviate the necessity of the mining community 
living virtually the year round on canned goods that are imported 
from the south. 

It is true that a large portion of the Territory is covered a 
good share of the year with fields of ice and snow, but, while 
there is a marked difference of opinion, there is ground for the 
belief that the country has a future in an agricultural way quite 
comparable with its future in other lines. As was shown in the 
chapter on topography and climate, the shores of Alaska are 
washed by an ocean current that sweeps across the Pacific from 
the coasts of Japan, and, in consequence, southern Alaska and 
much of the coast district has a climate comparable with that 
which makes, for instance, the British Isles remarkable for their 
fertility. 

Sitka is no farther north than Edinburg, and the northern- 
most point of Sweden is nearer the North Pole than the north- 
ernmost point of Alaska. The great warm current that tempers 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 335 

the climate of the Alaskan coast makes it, it is claimed by many, a 
country in which agriculture may be followed as successfully as 
in many of the older countries of the world, where the climate is 
not essentially different. 

Simply Lacks Tilling. 

It is claimed by many that all that is lacking near the coast is 
for the soil to be tilled, and that it can be made to produce prac- 
tically the same products that grow in Norway, Sweden and 
Great Britain. That the extreme northern plains, where the 
mercury often falls to 80 or 90 degrees below zero, and where, 
even in midsummer, the ground only thaws out two or three 
inches, can be transformed into an agricultural region, there are 
few to believe. But most people who have visited the country 
believe there are fertile regions enough to support millions of 
people. 

Baranof, in the early days of the Russian occupation of the 
country cleared fifteen kitchen gardens. He ripened barley and 
potatoes and common vegetables, What is more, this has been 
done every year since. If Alaska is a glacier-abounding and 
snow-clad country, it is nevertheless true that fine grasses spring 
up naturally on any clearing. Wild timothy and coarser grasses 
commonly grow from three to four feet high, and clover thrives 
about as luxuriantly as it does in more southern latitudes. 

In the neighborhood of Vancouver the natives cultivate pota- 
toes and a sort of tobacco. Each family has its little plantation 
sheltered away in some nook. Here they plant their tubers and 
sow their grain. Even in the barren regions of the north, Daw- 
son City, Circle City and Klondike, it is a common practice of 
the miners to grow turnips on the house tops. There the sun, 
even in the depth of summer, only thaws out the ground two or 
three inches, but by putting a generous covering of soil on the 



336 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

house tops, so that it gets the heat from the dwelling beneath, 
little trouble is experienced in maturing vegetables. Apparently 
what is lost in intensity of heat is made up by the length of the 
period which the sun shines. 

Garden Vegetables Raised. 

Since the United States occupation of the country it has been 
a common practice of residents in the more settled parts to raise 
radishes, lettuce, onions, cauliflowers, cabbages, peas, turnips, 
beets, parsnips and celery. Single potatoes have been produced 
weighing as much as a pound and five ounces. Hay is com- 
monly cured throughout the entire southeastern portion of 
Alaska, and this has been done since 1805. It is said that by 
adopting Norwegian methods larger and better crops could be 
cured. 

By way of comparison it may be stated that wheat is cultivated 
in Norway as far north as the 64th degree ; rye as far north as 
the 69th degree ; barley and oats as far north as the 70th degree. 
Apples, plums and cherries come to maturity there up to the 64th 
and 65th degrees, while raspberries, strawberries, currants and 
gooseberries thrive well at the North Cape, which is 7 1 degrees 
10 minutes. It is an often forgotten fact that throughout South- 
ern Alaska, at least, there are two or three weeks of really hot 
weather, when the mercury rises as high as 92 degrees. 

Dr. John G. Brady, a Presbyterian missionary at Sitka, 
expresses the belief that the country has an agricultural future. 
Says he : 

" The Kake Indians furnished the Russians with potatoes. 
Some of the natives at Wrangel are clearing off garden patches 
this year. Much can be done in this direction, for Alaska will 
furnish vegetables for a teeming population. There are several 
thousand acres in the neighborhood of this place upon which 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 337 

the finest vegetables may be raised with certainty. The soil for 
the most part is a vegetable mould mixed with sand. 

" Mr. Smiegh, of this place, has had a garden for the last 
seven years. He says he has grown cabbages weighing twenty- 
seven pounds. He has tried peas, carrots, leeks, parsnips, tur- 
nips, lettuce, radishes, onions, potatoes, parsley, celery, horse 
radish and rhubarb. He has also tried cucumbers and beans, 
but they did not do well. Cauliflowers and celery surpassed 
any he raised in other places. 

" The wild black currants abound in the woods. The tame 
currants do well. Gooseberries do well and have a delicate 
flavor. The cabbages grow wild and are six or eight inches in 
diameter. Mr. Burns, who has had a garden for the last three 
years, agrees with Mr. Smiegh. The strawberry grows wild 
near Mount Edgecombe." 

Missions in the Wilderness. 

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, Commissioner of Education, who had 
spent many years traveling the Alaskan Territory, was asked, 
after the Klondike fever broke out and the grave difficulty of 
supplying the mining colony with suitable food became a vital 
problem, of his views of the agricultural possibilities of the coun- 
try. It was Dr. Jackson, by the way, who, in company with 
Mrs. McFarland, took the initial steps in establishing Presbyterian 
missions in the wilderness. 

His residence in Alaska was protracted and his work as a mis- 
sionary took him to so many parts of the country that he had 
ample means to observe climatic conditions and the most desirable 
places for agricultural enterprise. He thoroughly agreed with 
those who had the interest of the miners at heart that it was a 
matter of prime importance to take immediate steps for supple- 
menting the mining activities with agricultural enterprises that 
22 



338 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

would limit the possibilities of suffering and disease. Said he : 
" The warmest friends of Alaska do not claim that it is rich in 
agricultural resources, or that it will agriculturally bear compari- 
son with the rich valleys of the Mississippi River ; but they do 
claim, that while there are large areas of mountains and unpro- 
ductive land agriculturally, yet there are valleys and plains where 
with suitable care many of the earlier vegetables, fruits and grains 

can be raised. 

Gardening is Common. 

" On Kadiak, on adjacent islands and on the shores of Cook's 
Inlet, where there are small Russian Creole settlements, they 
have for three-quarters of a century supplied themselves with 
vegetables and potatoes raised in their own gardens. During 
recent years the government and mission teachers in Southeast 
Alaska have in some instances had good vegetable gardens. 

In Northern Alaska, less than ioo miles south of the Arctic 
Circle, the teachers of the Swedish Evangelical mission at Un- 
alaska in 1891 cleared four acres of ground, on which they raised 
seventy bushels of potatoes. As that region has a frozen sub- 
soil covered with a heavy coating of moss, the removal of the 
moss and the cultivation of the ground will cause the soil to 
thaw out at a greater depth than it would otherwise. So that 
years of cultivation will cause the ground to yield much more 
plentifully than when first cultivated." 

Dr. Jackson gave some interesting illustrations of experiments 
that have been tried in various parts of the country, all going to 
prove that, difficult and unsatisfactory as agricultural experiments 
for a time might be, they would ultimately prove a success and 
be a great blessing. Continuing he said : 

"^In 1887, on the site of Lake Labugo, on the headwaters of 
the Yukon, over 2000 miles from Behring Sea, a missionary, 
passing along, saw ten heads of volunteer wheat, nearly ripe, on 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 339 

the twenty-second of August, in a place where some miners had 
camped the year before and dropped the seed. 

" Not only in the mild belt of Southern Alaska, but also in 
the Arctic and subarctic belt of Northern Alaska, various wild ber- 
ries grow and ripen in profusion (cranberries, currants, raspberries, 
huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries), and there is no ques- 
tion that if the government places Alaska on an equal footing 
with the other States and Territories in the establishment of one 
or more experimental stations, it will be demonstrated that suffi- 
cient vegetables can be raised for the consumption of its people. 
And if there is found a section so far north that the profitable 
raising of vegetables and grains becomes impossible, that region 
can be utilized by the introduction of herds of domestic reindeer." 

Would Introduce Reindeer. 

Dr. Jackson is an ardent advocate of the introduction of rein- 
deer into Alaska, as a means of solving the transit difficulties. 
Up to the present time, practically the only means of transporta- 
tion on leaving the coast, is either to go up the rivers during the 
brief summer months, or to take the overland trails during the 
remaining nine months of the year, using dogs as pack animals, 
and as steeds for sledges. On the matter of introducing rein- 
deer into the country, Dr. Jackson said : 

" Taking Norway and Sweden, where complete statistics are 
to be had, as a basis of calculation, and applying the same aver- 
age to Alaska, it is found the country is capable of sustaining 
9,200,000 head of reindeer, which will support a population of 
287,500 living like the Laps of Lapland. 

" The stocking of Alaska with tame reindeer means the open- 
ing up" of the vast and almost inaccessible central region of 
Northern and Central Alaska to white settlers and civilization, 
and the opening up of a vast commercial industry. 



340 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

" Lapland, with 400,000 reindeer, supplies the grocery stores 
of northern Europe with smoked reindeer hams, smoked tongues, 
dried and tanned hides, and 23,000 carcasses per annum to the 
butcher shops. On the same basis, Alaska, with its capacity for 
9,200,000 head of reindeer, can supply the markets of North 
America with 500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together 
with tons of delicious hams and tongues and finest leather. 
Surely the creation of an industry worth from $83,000,000 to 
$100,000,000 where none now exists is worthy the attention of 
the American people." 

Testimony of Mr. Ogilvie. 

The testimony of William Ogilvie, who made an official report 
to the Dominion Government of the characteristics of the coun- 
try, its resources and its possibilities, is of importance, and ex- 
tracts are here given from that portion of the report bearing 
upon feasibility of agricultural enterprises. Mr. Ogilvie is not an 
enthusiast, and his statements may be taken as an impartial 
account of the country by one who, trained in methods of obser- 
vation, combines good judgment with the expedients of enforced 
policy. As to the Yukon River and its valley Mr. Ogilvie says : 

"The agricultural capabilities of the country along the river 
are not great, nor is the land that can be seen from the river of 
good quality. When we consider further the unsuitable climatic 
conditions that prevail in that region, it may be said that as an 
agricultural district this portion of the country will never be of 
any value. 

" Many meteorological records show over 8 degrees of frost 
on August 1st, over 10 on the third, and four times during the 
month the minimum temperature was below freezing. 

"Along the east side of Lake Bennett, opposite the Chilkoot 
or western arm, there are some flats of dry, gravelly soil, which 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 341 

would make a few farms of limited extent. On the west side, 
around the mouth of the Wheaton River, there is an extensive 
flat of sand and gravel, covered with small pine and spruce of 
stunted growth. 

Coarse Grass for Cattle. 

"Along the western shore of Tagish Lake there is a large 
extent of low, swampy flats, a part of which might be used for 
the production of such roots and cereals as the climate would 
permit. Along the west side of Marsh Lake there is also much 
flat surface of the same general character, on which I saw some 
coarse grass which would serve as food for cattle. Along the 
east side the surface appeared higher and terraced, and is 
probably less suited to the requirements of the agriculturist. 

"Along the head of the river for some miles below Marsh 
Lake, there are flats on both sides, which would, as far as surface 
conformation goes, serve as farms. The soil is of much better 
quality than any heretofore seen, as is proved by the larger and 
thicker growth of timber and underbrush which it supports. 
The soil bears less the character of detritus, and more that of 
alluvium, than that seen above. 

" Some miles down the lake an extensive valley joins that of 
the lake an the west side. This valley contains a small stream. 
Around this place there is some land that might be useful, as the 
grass and vegetation is much better than any seen so far. 

On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there is also a 
considerable plain which might be utilized ; the soil in parts of it 
is good. I saw one part where the timber had been burned 
some time ago ; here both the soil and vegetation were good, 
and two or three of the plants seen are common in this part of 
Ontario, but they had not the vigorous appearance which the 
same plants have here." 

Mr. Ogilvie had not a little to say on the forestation of the 



342 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

country and its possibilities in the line of lumber. Speaking of 
the timber lands in the district considered in the passage just 
quoted, he says : 

" Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep, wide 
valley, which Dr. Dawson has named ' Ogilvie Valley.' In this 
the mixed timber, poplar and spruce, is of a size which betokens 
a fair soil ; the herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this 
region. This valley is extensive, and, if ever required as an aid 
in the sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the district's 
agricultural assets. 

" Below the lake the valley of the river is not as a rule wide, 
and the banks are often steep and high. There are, however, 
many flats of moderate extent along the river and at its con- 
fluence with other streams. The soil of many of these is fair. 

"About forty miles above the mouth of the Pelly River there 
is an extensive flat on both sides of the Lewis. The soil here is 
poor and sandy, with small open timber. At Pelly River there 
is a flat of considerable extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk 
stand. It is covered with a small growth of poplar and a few 
spruce. The soil is a gravelly loam of about eight inches in 
depth, the subsoil being gravel, evidently detritus. This flat ex- 
tends up the river for some miles, but is all covered thickly with 
timber, except a small piece around the site of the fort." 

An Experimental Station. 

There is every likelihood to believe that in the near future the 
United States government will have an agricultural experimental 
station in the valley of the Yukon. The desirability of such an 
experimental farm growing out of the necessities and the hardships 
of the mining populace was suggested by P. D. Weare, of the 
North American Transportation and Trading Company. A 
meeting was held in Chicago early in August, 1897, at which 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 343 

the development of the agricultural resources of Alaska was ex- 
haustively discussed. 

Secretary Wilson was present and pledged himself to work for 
the immediate establishment of such an experimental govern- 
mental farm in the Yukon valley. He expressed it as his belief 
that there would be little trouble in getting Congress to appro- 
priate at least $15,000 for this purpose. So far as he knew, 
there was no reason why a trial in the line of developing agri- 
cultural industries in Alaska should not be made early in the 
spring of 1898. 

Mr. Weare's plan contemplates the sending of a body of ex- 
perienced farmers from the older and better settled States, and 
putting into their hands every possible means for testing what can 
be done in raising grains, fruits and vegetables. Secretary Wilson 
was entirely in accord with Mr. Weare, and the belief was ex- 
pressed that within a few years there will be thousands of acres 
under cultivation at no great distance from the gold fields in the 
Yukon valley. 

Views Thought Utopian. 

Many to whom this plan of establishing a government farm 
was broached thought the views of Mr. Weare and Secretary 
Wilson a little too Utopian. They thought it might be possible 
to make a great success of farming in Southern Alaska, say, in 
the neighborhood of Sitka, but considered that the climate was 
too rigorous and the summer season too short for farming to be 
a success along the Yukon and Klondike rivers. It was generally 
conceded, however, that it would be a long step towards the 
solution of the food problem if agriculture could be developed to 
a large extent in the southern portion of the territory, so that 
the matter of transporting provisions to the camps would not be 
so costly. 

After the decision to establish the experimental farm had 



344 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

been made, Secretary Wilson expressed himself as follows : 
" I am greatly interested in the development of Alaska. With 
the aid of three experienced men, who are now in the Yukon 
country, the Department of Agriculture is making extensive in- 
vestigations, with a view of learning the value of the agricultural 
resources of the principal valleys, and it is certain an experi- 
mental farm will be established within a year near the junction 
of the Yukon and Tanano rivers, or in some other favorable 
location." 

Projects of Individuals. 

The same all-important work which the United States govern- 
ment will take upon its hands and push will probably receive 
great assistance from private enterprises. Scarcely had the 
Klondike fever broken out, and reports as to the difficulty of get- 
ting good wholesome food at the mining camps had been brought 
south, when Swan Frederickson, a hardy Norseman, who had 
served for years with the Hudson Bay Company, came forward 
with a proposition for a company to be called The Alaska Set- 
tlement Company, whose aim it should be to encourage imigra- 
tion and foster agriculture in the country immediately south of 
the Yukon. 

Frederickson said that he had lived too long in Alaska not to 
know what he was about, and that he was satisfied that with 
ample capital and judicious methods of procedure the population 
of the territory could be greatly increased and thousands of acres, 
that now are of no use whatever, could be reclaimed and made 
g§ Subserve the comfort and happiness of the people. He said 
it only wanted pluck, enterprise and perseverance to make Alaska 
from the southern limit virtually to the Yukon River one of the 
happiest agricufhiral regions in America. 

With a capital of $100,000 Frederickson is positive he can 
start some thrifts ss.tlements of Norsemen farmers, and the com- 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 345 

pany will make plenty of money by a monopoly of town site 
and commercial privileges. He insists that a good business can 
be done in raising beef, mutton, hardy vegetables and horse fod- 
der for the thousands of miners who are pouring into Alaska. 
The number to be fed will increase rapidly from now on, and 
Frederickson waxes enthusiastic in discussing the possibilities of 
his scheme ; but there is no capital yet in sight for starting the 
work. 

Farming Not Enticing. 

Farming in Alaska does not sound like a particularly enticing 
proposition, but there are other enthusiasts besides Frederickson 
who are pushing the idea. They not only maintain that grains 
and grasses can be raised in some parts of the Territory, but 
even talk about vegetables and fruits. What's more, they quote 
Joaquin Miller's letters in support of their scheme. 

Ranch booming in southern California in its palmiest days 
never had more earnest advocates than these men who are try- 
ing to develop the agricultural and horticultural possibilities of 
Alaska. They have no land to sell there, but they want to go 
into the farming business under the shade of Mount St. Elias or 
some other favored spot, and would like some capital to make a 
start on, with big profits later on for all interested parties. 

As a berry-growing region Alaska has greater promise than 
would be supposed for a country part of which lies beyond the 
Arctic Circle. At present it is reported there is but one fruit 
tree growing in that climate, it being a wild crabapple, which is 
not palatable. Whether or not the hardier forms of apples 
growing in the Northern States will thrive and the fruit come to 
maturity on the prairies along the Yukon is a question. But a 
great variety of berries do grow, and many of them grow wild. 

Strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries, raspberries and huckle- 
berries not infrequently attain great size. A berry unknown in 



346 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

southern regions, the roseberry, which grows on a species of 
rosebush, abounds in the Alaskan valleys. These berries are 
said to be delicious. They grow in large quantities in Russia, 
where the natives make preserves that they prize most highly. 
For some time large invoices of cranberries grown in Alaska 
have been received and sold in the markets of San Francisco. 

It is reasonable to suppose that when small fruits grow wild in 
such abundance they can be easily cultivated and produce a 
profitable crop. Indeed, it is believed that more money can be 
made in raising berries there than in mining gold — at all events 
there is less risk of loss. Turnips, radishes, potatoes, and cab- 
bages can be raised in the climate, it is believed. 

Industries Largely Transformed. 

An enterprise was proposed early in August, 1897, with the 
purpose of making the raising of dogs a distinct and separate 
enterprise or industry in Alaska, somewhat on the line of Dr. 
Jackson's proposition to introduce reindeer as a means of solving 
the transportation problem. The enterprise grew out of the 
scarcity of sledge dogs on the overland routes. 

A kennel owner offered to furnish a stock of draft dogs and 
take in payment part cash and the rest in the stock of the com- 
pany which he proposed to organize. There was no intention of 
introducing any of the breeds of dogs commonly found in the 
Southern States. These it was said would be wholly worthless 
for the purpose for which animals are needed in Alaska. On the 
contrary, dogs used in Siberia and other countries too cold for 
horses, would be imported and bred in such numbers as to sup- 
ply the demand and make the enterprise a success from a finan- 
cial standpoint. 

Short as is the history of Alaska, it will be seen that its indus- 
tries and its commercial enterprises have been practically trans- 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 347 

formed since the first days of Russian occupation, and it will 
also be seen that there is every prospect that the transformation 
will be still greater during the two or three years, following the 
discovery of gold in the Yukon Valley. Of the first commer- 
cial enterprises carried on in the country practically only one 
survives to-day in a hopeful and remunerative way. Seal fishing, 
as has been shown, has had its day of rise and decadence. The 
time was when hundreds of thousands of valuable skins in 
periods of glutted market were thrown into the sea for the mere 
purpose of keeping up the prices. To-day while sealing is still 
carried on, it is carried on in a way so limited as to contrast 
strangely with the former days of intense activity in this industry. 

The Seal Fisheries. 

The same is true of hunting and trapping on the mainland. 
The yearly output is now in no wise comparable with that of the 
palmy days of the Russian Fur Company and the American Fur 
Company. The falling away in sealing is due to the wholesale 
slaughter of the animals, for whose preservation the Government 
was obliged to take the strictest measures. It is altogether 
probable that with a wise policy in limiting the number of seals 
killed for their furs, sealing may in future years be as profitable 
as ever. It is not deemed probable that hunting and trapping 
wild animals on the mainland for their furs will ever be what it 
once was. 

The fishing industry on the coast and along the rivers is 
bound, it is said, to continue, not merely holding its own, but 
developing into ever increasing enterprises. There is much 
to be hoped for in the timber districts, for despite the adverse 
reports that have been made on the forestation of the country, 
it must be remembered that there are whole regions where 
the white man has scarcely set foot. What these unknown 



348 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

regions may contain is now a mere matter of conjecture. The 
history of lumbering in the United States shows that this industry 
is a mere growth dependent upon exploration and subsequent 
enterprise. It is not unlikely that lumbering in the wilds of 
Alaska will develop into something which even the most sanguine 
to-day little suspect. 

Mining and Agriculture. 

In view of the excitement incident to the discovery of gold in 
the Yukon Valley and the impetus it has given, not merely to 
the work of prospectors and miners, but to that of scientific 
investigators, the probability is that the leading industry of Alaska 
for many years to come will be that of mining. And directly 
connected with and dependent upon it, there is likelihood also of 
a marked development of agricultural pursuits. 

Until early in 1897, when travelers returned from Alaska and 
were asked what the chief occupations of the people were, they 
would say, of course, fishing and hunting. But the mere fortu- 
nate discovery of golden treasure in the ground will likely give 
a new trend to the entire development of the country. To shoot 
and trap and fish was naturally both the amusement and the 
employment of the Indians and Esquimeaux and such white 
men as ventured into the country on trips of exploration. 

But with the white man as a hunter for gold instead of for 
animals, it was a different matter. He came, he saw, he dug, 
and in digging he found riches. The glittering gold greeted his 
eyes and the fever of gold fell upon the whole country. It is 
the common belief that this malady, engendered by good fortune, 
will shape the destinies of Alaska, and transform it from an 
unknown wilderness of plains and valleys and mountain peaks 
and glaciers into one of the most remarkable and important 
mining and agricultural regions of the world. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Resources and Wealth. 

Record as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago — How 
the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Report of Geo- 
logical Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review — Alaska Richer 
than Klondike — West of the Coast Range — Mint Director Preston's 
Views — United States Leads the World in Gold Production — From the 
Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings 
— Some Scattered Streaks — Experts in the Field — John W. Mackey 
Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — Canadian Report. 

IN 1 867 most people who freed their minds had only hard 
things to say of " Russian America," which the policy of 
William H. Seward had just incorporated in the territorial 
area of the United States. Seven millions, even in those days of 
" war prices," seemed a large sum to throw away, and all but a few 
long-headed men regarded as clearly thrown away money used 
to acquire that reputed ice-locked land of bergs and glaciers. 
They were certain no good thing could come out of it, and their 
expectations of returns on the nation's investment were circum- 
scribed by estimates of the interest on the purchase price which 
the fur industry would probably pay. That there was or ever 
would be anything in the " great country" except fur, was not a 
canon of the popular faith. And faith was the largest ingredient 
in the logic with which Seward supported his project — faith in 
the still hidden treasures of that vast terra incognita, which, it 
seems, has waited thirty years for justification. 

Repellant to the immigrant as Alaska has seemed for most 
of three decades, it would appear likely that the region is about to 
be shown as one of the rich areas of the nation. The gold 
craze on the Canadian Klondike has not only served to stimulate 
the news of other gold discoveries in the adjacent United States 

349 



350 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

territory, but has brought to light before the public the existence 
of other wealth producing resources within the old Russian 
colony which have hitherto been known or guessed at only by a 
few, and which promise well for development. 

What are the resources of Alaska ? 

First, of course, in present importance are the mineral deposits 
and here gold is at the head of the list. There is silver, too, as 
usual, associated with the more precious metal. Besides these 
there are copper, iron, lead, plumbago, marble, coal, sulphur, 
bismuth, kaolin fireclay, gypsum and petroleum. 

Allied to these minerals are many gems, among them the 
famous Alaskan diamonds, garnets, amethysts, zeolites, agates 
and cornelians. Fossil ivory is frequently found, and it has been 
claimed by scientific men that the ivory finds in the frost beds of 
Siberia might probably be duplicated in Alaska as the result of 
systematic prospecting for these treasures of extinct pachyderms. 

Vegetable and Animal. 

The resources of Alaska in the vegetable kingdom cover a 
|ong list of valuable woods, the cedars especially being unsur- 
passed. Small fruits are plentiful in the southeastern or Sitkan 
portion, and experiments within a few years give hopes that 
agriculture and stock-raising are not impossible industries, but 
they lack the confirmation of extensive experience. 

In the animal kingdom furs from amphibious and land animals 
are the principal sources of wealth. The whale fisheries have 
hitherto been profitable industries, but the extermination of the 
" right " whale by the hunters and the market for oil and " bone " 
have latterly reduced the value of this industry as a resource. The 
salmon, which abound in Alaskan waters, have developed two great 
industries in canning and salting, and the cod fisheries on the great 
banks along the Aleutian chain are important. There are many 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 351 

other food fishes, also, ample for local consumption, but of a com- 
mercial value not yet ascertained. It has been said there is 
"more fish than water in Alaska;" but this may be taken as 
hyperbole. As to the food animals, a project is under way to 
introduce reindeer into the country for the value there may be 
in their hides and meat, but the scheme is still in the experi- 
mental stage. 

In any estimate of either the resources or the native and 
natural wealth of Alaska, it should be borne in mind that no 
systematic development has yet taken place along any lines 
except the fur and salmon industries. Except in the Sitkan 
region, the exploitation of the gold area has been more acci- 
dental than designed, and comparatively no attention has been 
paid to the other minerals. There are no statistics from which 
to compile comparative tables, and all statements must perforce 
partake of the nature of generalities. The Russians had no use 
for Alaska except for its furs, and for ten years after the terri- 
tory had passed from the dominion of the double-headed eagle 
to that of the one-headed bird of Uncle Sam the new owners 
had no definite idea that they had bought anything more valu- 
able than fur seals and sea otters. 

Twenty Years Ago. 

In 1 877 Henry W. Elliott wrote as follows of the new Territory : 
" At present, however, beyond the fur trade, there is nothing 
doing whatever in Alaska — no settlers, no mines, no mills. If 
we ever utilize the spruce and fir timber on the Sitka coast we 
must encourage and foster the effort in the line of ship-building, 
for this timber is too gummy and resinous for the ordinary use 
of house-building and furniture-making. If gold or silver is dis- 
covered in Alaska it must be of unusual richness, or it will never 
support any considerable body of men up there, so far away 



352 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

from the sources of necessary supply. The reputed Alaska 
gold mines are not in Alaska at all." 

Mr. Elliott was a noted and shrewd observer, and he had had 
ten years acquaintance with Alaska, but Birch Creek and Forty- 
Mile were then unheard of, and even the auriferous riches of 
Douglas Island were not dreamed of. 

Gold on Douglas Island. 

Gold-bearing rock was discovered on Douglas Island in 1880, 
and the next year the famous Tread we 11 mine was located there 
in the largest solid body of ore on the Coast. The deposit is a 
mountain of gold-bearing quartz, worked from the surface like 
an ordinary stone quarry. The ore only runs from three dollars 
to seven dollars to the ton, but as it costs one dollar and a quar- 
ter or less a ton to mill it, the property is considered one of the 
most profitable mines in the world. The largest stamp mill in 
the world, running 240 stamps, handles the output. 

Following the location of the Treadwell mines other gold 
areas were discovered, and it soon became well known on the 
coast that there was yellow dust in many portions of the " Pan- 
Handle," and also in the Yukon Basin, though the rigor of the 
climate and the remoteness of the diggings from bases of sup- 
plies long kept the country from being developed in response to 
the impulse of the discoveries. 

Then came the placers around Circle City and Fort Cudahy, 
and hard after them the marvelous strikes in the Klondike just 
across the border, and the golden future of Alaska was an estab- 
lished fact. 

The report on the Yukon gold region by Josiah Edward 
Spurr, the geological survey expert, who headed a party that 
made a thorough investigation in Alaska last summer, gives new 
facts about the interior. It says as to the Forty-Mile gold dis- 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 353 

trict that in the latter part of 1887 gold was struck in Franklin 
Gulch, and ever since it has been a constant payer. The dis- 
covery of Davis Creek and a stampede from Franklin Gulch 
followed in the spring of 1888. In 1891 gold mining in the 
interior, as well as on the coast, at Silver Bow Basin and Tread- 
well, received a great impetus. The event of 1892 was the 
discovery of Miller Creek. In the spring of 1893 many new 
claims were staked, and it is estimated that eighty men took out 
$100,000. Since then Miller Creek has been the heaviest pro- 
ducer of the Forty-Mile district, and until recently of the whole 
Yukon. Its entire length lies in British possessions. The output 
for 1893, as given by the Mint Director, for the Alaskan creeks, 
all but Miller Creek being in American possessions, was $ 198,000, 
with a mining population of 196. 

The total amount produced by the Yukon placers in 1894 was 
double that of the previous year. In 1895 the output had 
doubled again. 

Forty-Mile district in the summer of 1896 is described in the 
report as looking as if it had seen its best days, and unless 
several new creeks are discovered it will lose its old position. 

Large Profits Reported. 

The Birch Creek district was last summer in a flourishing 
condition. Most of the gulches were then running, miners were 
working on double shifts, night and day, and many large profits 
were reported. On Mastadon Creek, the best producer, over 
thirty miners were at work, many expecting to winter in the 
gulch. As to hydraulicking, the report says : " Some miners 
have planned to work this and other good ground supposed to 
exist under the deep covering of moss and gravel in the wide 
valley of the Mammoth and Crooked creeks by hydraulicking, 
the water to be obtained by tapping Miller and Mastadon creeks 
23 



354 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

near the head. It will be several years before the scheme can 
be operated, because both of the present gulches are paying well 
and will continue do so for at least five years." 

Expert Spurr's report on the Klondike district is as follows : 
" With the announcement of gold here in the winter of 1 896- 
97 there was a genuine stampede to the new region. Forty- 
Mile was almost deserted. But 350 men spent the winter on 
the Klondike, in the gulches and at the new town of Dawson. 
The more important parts of the district are on the Bonanza and 
Hunker creeks. According to the latest information 400 claims 
have been located up to January 1, 1897 ; about half as many on 
Hunker Creek. There is plenty of room for many more pros- 
pectors and miners, for the gulches and creeks which have 
shown good prospects spread over an area of 700 square miles. 
The estimated Alaskan gold production for 1896 is $1,400,000. 

Professor Elliott Again. 

It is interesting at this point to see how Professor Elliott's 
views have changed between 1877 and 1897. Here is what he 
said last summer of Alaska : 

" My experience in the Klondike region leads me to believe 
that while there is considerable gold in the crevices and along 
the rivers, washed down for ages from the mountains by attri- 
tion and the glacial displacements, the 'pockets ' in which large 
quantities are to be found, including nuggets and much pure 
gold, are comparatively few. One man may find a * pocket/ 
and get thousands from it, while hundreds of others may toil 
near by for a few dollars' worth of metal a day. I understand 
there are now about 7,000 people in the Klondike region seek- 
ing for gold, while hundreds of others are flocking there as fast 
as possible. Mark my word, you will hear of a lot of disgusted 
men returning to the States next spring, having failed to ' strike 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 355 

it rich,' as they had hoped. I would advise no man who is estab- 
lished in business here, who is married, or who has any respon- 
sibility resting upon him, to go to the new gold fields. 

"Alaska is a healthful country, there being no malaria or 
mountain fever. A curious fact is that any one afflicted with 
neuralgia or rheumatism is completely cured of it in that cli- 
mate. The clear, dry atmosphere and the rapid changes of the 
body's tissues doubtless account for this. One's appetite is tre- 
mendous in that climate. A man will eat four times as much 
food as he does here and not feel uncomfortable. 

" There is plenty of fuel, poplar, beech and fir trees lining 
the numerous streams. Of course, the culling and hauling of 
timber make it very expensive. Houses are nothing but log 
huts, two or three feet of which are below ground, with earth 
banked about the sides and even over the roofs. Eight or ten 
miners will lie down to sleep on the rude bunks within these 
cabins, wrapped in their heavy blankets." 

Alaska Richer than Klondike. 

A scientific expert of the Coast Survey, who knows what he 
is talking about from experience, believes Alaska is richer than 
the Klondike. He sums up his reasons thus : 

"A study of the map convinces me that the greater part of the 
gold fields of the extreme Northwest will finally be found within 
the limits of our territory. I went through Alaska as a member 
of the boundary commission, and am very familiar with the valley 
of the Yukon and the surrounding country. The greatest activity 
in placer mining is now in the British possessions, about forty 
miles east of the 141st meridian, which is our boundary. But if 
you look at the map and see where gold has been found, you 
will observe that all the lodes seem to lead into Alaska. 

" There is a certain regularity about gold findings. South of 



356 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

the Klondike in British Columbia is the Cariboo region, which 
was the scene of a former gold excitement. Crews on vessels 
deserted, and there was the same sort of a rush, on a smaller 
scale, that we have seen in the Klondike. Then directly east of 
the ' Pan-Handle ' of our Alaska territory is the celebrated Cas- 
sar country. Here are the headwaters of the Pelly River, and 
the confluence of the Lewis and the Pelly makes the Yukon. The 
richness of the Cassar country has long been known, and it be- 
longs to the same general trend, geologically speaking, as the 
Klondike. This trend is parallel to the west coast of the conti- 
nent. Wherever the tributaries of these rivers have been pros- 
pected gold has generally been found. Forty-Mile Creek, Sixty- 
Mile Creek and Birch Creek are instances in point. The 
headwaters of all these streams are in a group of mountains, the 
area of which is probably a thousand square miles. It is mostly 
unexplored, but largely within the territory of the United States, 
and it is probably rich in gold. Of the country farther north we 
know little as yet, although it is well watered, and belongs to the 
same mountain range. It is entirely likely that placer mining 
can be carried on through this country for a distance of 500 

miles. 

West of Coast Range. 

" Besides this trend of gold country parallel to the west coast, 
it will be observed that there is another remarkable region west 
of the coast range, which converges into the same Alaskan 
territory. Beginning at Juneau there is a great deal of quartz 
mining and near that town the largest stamp mill in the world has 
been built. The ore is a low grade, yielding only about $2.50 a 
ton, but it can at that figure be very profitably worked. At 
Yakutat Bay, right under Mount St. Elias, there is considerable 
placer mining, and at Cook's Inlet, farther north, still more. 
Compared with the region in Alaska, which now seems likely 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 357 

to be rich in gold, the California territory was very small. 
" I am much impressed with the opportunities for profit in 
other things in Alaska besides this gold. The fisheries of the 
coast are most remarkable, and when fully developed may yield 
larger returns than the mines. Then the coal, now that a popu- 
lation is going into the country which will want to use it, is a 
very important thing. Some system of easy transportation 
across country, from one river to another, might be profitably 
established. The inhabitants of the Yukon Valley will always 
have to draw their food supplies from the outside. That is one 
of the most desolate regions on the face of the earth. Game is 
very scarce. The Indian population is slight, which proves how 
difficult it must be to get food." 

Rich Finds in Alaska. 

F. G. H. Bowker, one of the returned Yukoners, who brings 
back nearly $40,000 in gold dust, the result of six months' 
work, is authority for the statement that on the American side 
of the international boundary placer fields have been found 
which even put those of the Klondike into the shade. 

When his party was descending the Yukon on the return from 
Dawson City the steamship was intercepted by a man who 
desired to send letters and papers back to civilization. This man 
was one of a party who had gone down the river from Dawson 
in the hope of locating rich beds of which Indians in the vicinity 
had been telling. The members of the party were well known to 
the Yukoners and full credence is given to the story. 

Bowker and his associates were told that just across the Alaska 
boundary, on the American side, the party had found placer 
fields fabulously rich in gold. They had staked out claims and 
begun to work them. 

" Every one of us has taken out thousands of dollars in dust 



358 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

and nuggets already," said Bowker's informant, " and there 
seems no limit to the gold in sight. It is more abundant than 
on the Klondike and easier to work, the gold being very near 
the surface of the ground. We are all rich already, but we are 
going to stay through next winter." 

Further information was conveyed that there were only white 
men in the new district, and they had the field practically to 
themselves. They advised Bowker and his companions to for- 
sake Klondike claims on their return from the States and take 
claims in the new diggings. 

The point at which the fortunate treasure-hunters are working 
is northwest of Dawson and but a few miles west of the bound- 
ary. Their claims are in a valley of one of the numerous creeks 
emptying into the Yukon. 

Mint Director's Report. 

Director of the Mint Preston, in a report on the gold of Alaska 
and the adjoining Klondike territory, which may fairly be con- 
sidered at the same time as the Alaskan auriferous area, since 
the lodes and placiers of one are for practical purposes precisely 
similar to those of the other, says : 

"That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered 
Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount re- 
cently brought out by the steamship companies and miners 
returning to the States who went into the district within the last 
eight months. So far $1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike 
District has been deposited at the mints and assay offices of the 
United States, and from information now at hand there are sub- 
stantial reasons for believing from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 
additional will be brought out by the steamers and returning 
miners sailing from St. Michael's the last of September or early 
October next, One of the steamship companies states that it 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 359 

expects to bring out about $2,000,000 on its steamer sailing from 
St. Michael's on September 30th, and has asked the government 
to have a revenue cutter act as a convoy through the Behring 
Sea. In view of the facts above stated, I am justified in estima- 
ting that the Klondike District will augment the world's gold 
supply in 1897 nearly $6,000,000. 

Richness of the Klondike. 

"The gold product of the Dominion of Canada for 1896, as 
estimated by Dr. G. M. Dawson, Director of the Geological 
Survey of that country, was $2,810,000. Of this sum the 
Yukon placers, within British territoiy, were credited with a pro- 
duction of $355,000. The total product of that country for 
1897 has been estimated at $10,000,000, an increase over 1896 
of $7,200,000. From this the richness of the newly-discovered 
gold fields of the Klondike is evident. 

" Of all the gold-producing countries, of course, the Klondike 
is at present one of most absorbing interest. It strikes the 
imagination to-day as California did the minds of the forty- 
niners. It will add in 1897 possibly $6,000,000 to the gold 
treasure of the world. 

" Now as to the influence of such addition to the world's 
gold, the influence it will exert depends mainly on how many 
years the Klondike District shall continue a producer and how 
large its annual increment to the world's existing stock of gold 
shall be. There is every reason to believe that Alaska and the 
adjacent British territory are possibly as rich in gold as was 
California and Australia when first discovered. I have estimated 
that the Klondike district will in 1897 produce $6,000,000 worth 
of gold. It will add to the product from year to year probably 
for a minimum of one or two decades." 

Mr, Preston calls attention to the fact that the United States, 



360 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

leads the world in gold production. He estimates the gold pro- 
duction of the world for 1896 to have been $205,000,000, of 
which the United States contributed over $53,000,000. For 
1897 it is believed the world's gold product will reach at least 
$240,000,000, an increase of $35,000,000 over 1896. He says : 
"As an indication of the increase in the world's gold product 
for 1897 the following table, showing the product of the United 
States, Australia, South Africa, Russia, Mexico, British India and 
Canada for 1896, and the probable output of these countries for 
1897, is given : . 

1896. 1897. 

United States $53,000,000 $60,000,000 

Australia 46,250,000 52,550,000 

South Africa 44,000,000 56,000,000 

Russia 22,000,000 25,000,000 

Mexico 7,000,000 9,000,000 

British India 5,800,000 7,000,000 

Canada 2,800,000 10,000,000 

Total $180,850,000 $219,550,000 

" That the world's great product will continue to increase for 
a number of years to come," says Mr. Preston, " is self-evident, . 
as new mines will be opened up in all parts of the world, and 
with the improved appliances and methods for extracting the gold 
contained in the ores it is believed that by the close of the present 
century the world's gold product will exceed $300,000,000. 

From the Mining Record. 

The Alaska Mining Record, in a summary of the business of 1 896, 
gives some interesting figures, as follows, about the gold output : 

" The output of the mines of Alaska is difficult of estimation. 
The vastness of the mining territory, the extremely migratory 
characteristic of the population and the entire absence of reports 
and statistics from a great part of the smaller camps render it 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 361 

difficult to arrive at a statement approximating correctness except 
by careful study and watchful attention to every detail. The 
following estimate is the result of just such work, and is believed 
to be as nearly correct as is possible, and still represent fully, 
yet conservatively, the production of gold in Alaska during 1896 : 

Total output of quartz mines $2,355,000 

Ivituya Bay placer mines 15.000 

Cook Inlet placer mines 175,000 

Birch Creek district, Yukon mines 1,300,000 

Other Yukon districts 800,000 

From several small creeks in various parts of the ter- 
ritory, worked by arrastas 25,000 

Total output $4,670,000 

"This is an increase over 1895 of $1,670,000. At the same 
time the number of new discoveries which promise well has been 
great. These will be more or less productive during the next 
year, and a corresponding increase is assured. Two new mills of 
ten stamps each have been erected during the past year, and 
sixty-five stamps have been added to mills already operating, 
bringing the number of stamps now dropping in Alaska to 549, 
of which all but ninety-four are in continuous operation, these 
latter being closed down by climatic severities during the winter 
season. As development is carried forward, however, steps are 
taken to overcome this, and it is but a question of a short time 
when all our mines will run regardless of climate or season. It 
is quite likely that during the coming summer no less than 250 
stamps will be added to the present number." 

Value of Yukon Gold. 

Assistant Weigher W. A. Underhill, of the Selby Smelting 
Company, of San Francisco, says the gold from the Yukon is 
not as valuable as that produced in California. He states his 
point in these words : 



362 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

" It is a fact that the Yukon gold is not as valuable as that 
produced in this State. The nuggets from the Yukon are worth 
$17 and $18 per ounce, and the finer gold dust is worth from 
$16 to $17 per ounce. The California gold value is about $i 
an ounce more. Its nuggets run from $18 to $19, and gold 
dust never less than $17 per ounce." 

There would seem to be no doubt that gold exists in paying 
quantities in many other portions of Alaska than in the quartzite 
veins of Douglas Island or the placers around Circle City. 
" Color," in fact, is a characteristic of the whole Yukon basin 
and of a great number of valleys and gulches in other parts of 
the Territory. 

At Cook's Inlet. 

George Hall, a Cook's Inlet miner, has this to say about that 
region : 

" I want to deny the stories told by ' tenderfeet ' sheep herders 
and grape pickers, who say that there is no gold in Cook's Inlet. 
I'll wager that from $400,000 to $500,000 will be taken out of 
the Sunrise City district this summer. On Canon Creek, Mills 
Creek, Gulch Creek and Bear Creek the various mines are 
working from five to twenty men, each at $4 a day, and they 
are taking out at least $20 a day to the man. Of course, this is 
not doing as well as the Klondike, but it is a mighty sight better 
than nothing. 

"The Pelly Mining Company took out $45,000 last year, and 
is working ten men this year, who are averaging $20 a day to 
the man. Wages on the Pelly mine are $4 a day and board. 

"An old practical miner who went to Link Creek, which had 
been prospected time and again by ' tenderfeet ' and pronounced 
valueless, took out $10,000 last fall, and is now working twenty 
men. There are three or four other claims on Link Creek pay- 
ing equally as well. Claims on Gulch Creek, which was dis- 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 363 

covered by a man named Shuffler, were averaging $20 a day to 
the man on July 4th. 

" We have a prosperous community at Sunrise — about 200 
population, two general merchandise stores, two saloons and a 
hotel. It is no country for men who expect to pick up gold by 
the handful, but is good for practical, hard-working miners." 

Told by a Kadiaker. 

Dr. C. F. Dickenson, a resident of Kadiak, recently wrote : 

" In my opinion there are just as good placer diggings to be 
found at Cook's Inlet as in the Klondike region. There is not 
a foot of ground in all that country that does not contain gold 
in more or less appreciable quantities. There is room there for 
thousands of men, and there is certainly no better place in the 
world for a poor man." 

George F. Becker, in an unpublished report made to the geo- 
logical survey of his investigation in 1895 of the coastal gold 
districts, says that most of the islands of the Alexander Archi- 
pelago contain gold deposits, yet unworked, that would probably 
repay very handsomely well-directed efforts of placer mining. 
These deposits are in the neighborhood of Sitka, and generally 
on BaronofT and Admiralty Islands, and the beaches of the ad- 
jacent mainland. Another fairly promising region is in a group 
of deposits on the Kenai Peninsula, on the southeast shore of 
Cook's Inlet, and at Yakutal Bay and the beaches of Kadiak Island. 

Gold and silver have been discovered in the extreme northern 
portion of the Territory, but no systematic prospect has ever 
been conducted, and the value of the deposits cannot be estimated. 

In the region of Lake Clark, a newly discovered body of 
water in the Southwestern mainland, the census agent reported 
"pay" g°ld m tne cree k beds, but said the dust was as fine as 
flour, and would require special apparatus for working. 



364 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

Professor G. F. Wright, of the Chair of Geology at Oberliu 
College, wrote of the general prospect to the New York Journal, 
as follows : 

" As to the ultimate yield of the mines or the prospect of find- 
ing more, we have nothing but conjecture to go upon. The 
geologist who have visited the region were not the ones who 
discovered the gold. What the prospectors have found points to 
more. The unexplored region is immense. The mountains to 
the south are young, having been elevated very much since the 
climax of the glacial period. With these discoveries and the 
success in introducing reindeer, Alaska bids fair to support a 
population eventually of several million. The United States 
must hold on to her treaty rights with Great Britain for the pro- 
tection of our interests there." 

Experts in the Field. 

Samuel C. Dunham, expert of the Federal Bureau of Labor, 
left for Alaska early in August, under Government direction, to 
investigate the gold belt and report this coming winter. His 
inquiry will cover the extent of the deposits, opportunities for 
business, for investment of capital, labor, wages, cost of living, 
climate, best means of reaching the gold fields and kindred 
subjects. 

The Government at Washington will send a mining expert 
into the Klondike country next spring to make an estimate as to 
the probable amount of gold in this region. 

In reaching this conclusion the Treasury Department is follow- 
ing the precedent established in the case of the gold discoveries 
in the Rand, South Africa. When those discoveries were reported 
the Rothschilds sent Hamilton Smith, of New York, to estimate 
the value of the fields, and he reported $3,000,000,000 as his 
estimate. 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 365 

Mining experts doubted the correctness of Mr. Smith's con- 
clusions on account of the smallness of the space occupied by 
the mines, and the German Government sent Bergath Schmeiser, 
a noted mining engineer, to make a report. The government of 
the United States followed Germany's example by sending George 
F. Becker. 

John W. Mackey Quoted. 

John W. Mackey, the last of the Bonanza Kings — now presi- 
dent of the Commercial Cable Company and of the Postal Tele- 
graph System, and one of the world's great capitalists — knows 
more, probably, about the vicissitudes of gold hunting and placer 
mining than any man in America. He spoke of the reports of 
the marvelous richness of the Alaskan and Klondike gold fields, 
as follows : 

" I have no reason to doubt them. I have had great confi- 
dence in the mining possibilities in British Columbia and Alaska 
— have always believed that those frozen, almost inaccessible 
regions contain heavy deposits of precious metals. Some enor- 
mous ' finds ' of gold have undoubtedly been made there, and 
yet we know little or nothing of the possibilities of the country. 
Think of Williams' Creek, for instance, in the Caribou region in 
British Columbia. As long ago as i860 something like fifty 
millions of gold were taken out. It was placer mining there, 
just the same as the Klondike. 

" The gold is right on the surface. It is a mountainous 
country, overrun with lava at some remote age, and centuries 
ago, probably, the great forces of nature were at work and 
melted the gold in a natural crucible. 

" The particles of gold are now washed out by the waters, and 
are generally found along the course of mountain streams. You 
will always find the best placer gold near the banks of streams 
and barren water courses. Scientific mining preserves a much 



366 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

larger portion of gold dust than formerly, and I presume it de- 
stroys a great deal of the individuality in a working miner. Thus 
far the Klondike region has seen only old-fashioned, primitive 
mining, the men groveling in the dirt with their hands and wash- 
ing out the gold dust in a simple pan, picking nuggets with their 
fingers. 

Modern Mining Methods. 

" In time modern mining methods will be carried up to the 
Yukon country. The recent discoveries prove that it is im- 
mensely rich. All parts of the country will be opened. Capital 
will always go where there is a chance for legitimate investment, 
and transportation facilities will increase as rapidly as the travelers. 

" Whether interest in the Alaskan mines will increase depends 
on future reports. I see in it something like the excitement of 
the early '50s over the gold discoveries of the Pacific coast 
region. The reports of rich individual finds are likely to con- 
tinue, and the arrival of every ship loaded with fortunate gold 
hunters will stimulate the imagination, hopes and desires of the 
would-be gold hunters. We hear nothing of the failures, you 
know. One man who is lucky is more talked about than a 
thousand who fail. 

" My experience is, I think, that about one man in ten used to 
get on in the mining days in California. I do not mean that one 
man in ten became a millionaire. I mean made a living and a 
little more. The thriftless and careless ones go to the wall, while 
the hard workers, who have a definite purpose in view and who 
cling tenaciously to it, succeed in mining as in other occupations. 

" But, as I said, in placer mining there is a good deal of luck 
in locating the claim. One man will take out a great deal and 
another man nothing. As to the limits of British Columbia 
mining I cannot say, but I think there are immense gold deposits 
yet to be found." 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 367 

Henry Ellsworth Haydon, former Secretary of Alaska, speaks 
of the gold production as follows : 

" From many places in the Pacific coast States miners have 
been drifting Alaskaward for years, locating pay quartz and 
placer claims in southeastern Alaska and along the Yukon 
River and its tributaries, and feeling assured all the time, from 
every indication, that the wind-blown snow plumes on the 
mountain tops waved above crowns of gold. 

A Happy Surprise. 

" Long prior to 1887 Juneau and a comrade went prospecting 
in Alaska. They were hunting quartz. Paddling along the 
coast in a canoe, they saw far up a mountain side, which skirted 
a lonely bay, the glimmer of white outcroppings from the dull 
gray of the surrounding rocks. They beached their canoe, and 
after a hard climb reached the spot. The rock was worthless, 
but the summit was not far off, and desiring to see what was on 
the other side, they pushed onward until they stood where they 
could look down into a ravine, through which a mountain stream 
rushed tumultuously toward the sea. They noted that the bed 
of the stream was strewn with big white boulders, and curiosity 
and hope led them to descend to it and investigate. Joe told 
me he was breathless when he got there, and they both sat 
down on the banks and wondered if it were true. 

" Before them, where the crystal water babbled, they saw 
white rocks veined with gold and inlaid with nuggets, many as 
large as a thumb nail. They stayed there while their provisions 
lasted, a few days only, gathering together $14,000 in virgin 
gold. 

" In the rear of Juneau, on the mainland, is Silver Bow Basin, 
where some rich placer mines are being worked. Placer mining 
is carried on in at least eight districts, viz. : Silver Bow Basin, 



368 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

near Juneau ; Sum Dum and Shuck, some distance south ; 
Latuya Bay, on the coast north of Cross Sound ; Yakutat, 
Kenai Peninsular. The Fish River district, on Norton Sound, 
at Cook's Inlet, and the Yukon district, including the rivers flowing 
into the Yukon. 

Placers in Yukon Basin. 

" In the absence of statistics it is difficult to obtain reliable 
information, but work in these placers continues, which is evidence 
of success. For ten years at least men have worked placers in 
the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in the spring, they have 
gone out over the Chilkat Pass and down the little chain of lakes 
on the other side, making long portages, it is true, and enduring 
some hardships, to the Yukon River. They have returned to 
Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them from $2000 
to $3500 each in gold dust, the product of the summer's work. 
But they are improvident, these men who win gold from the beds 
of rivers, and when the spring comes they are stranded finan- 
cially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they ' win out ' 
some way and go back again to return — unless they have crossed 
the divide forever — and repeat the same old story of excess and 
extravagance. 

" They never grow money wise, these grizzled veterans of the 
rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they 
are of -God's people, and I like them. 

" Quartz lodes are worked in ten or more districts, some of 
which are large and contain many district claims. The ten dis- 
tricts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which 
yields ore containing silver, gold, and other metals ; Salmon 
Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly 
gold ; Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty 
Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay Mining District, near Sitka, 
gold and silver ; Besner Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ; Fish 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 369 

River Mining District, on Norton Sound ; Unga District and 
Lemon Creek." 

The undeveloped and almost unthought of mineral resources 
of Alaska, other than gold, deserve a passing glance. Another 
year or two will, perhaps, give some statistics of deposit and 
production which are lacking now. 

Copper promises to be a valuable and important resource of 
the territory. It is found pure or "virgin " in many places and 
has given its name to the little known Copper River. A valuable 
deposit of bronze copper has been worked for years. 

An expedition has been organized to go out from Tacoma and 
Port Townsend to explore a rich copper field, in which there is 
believed to be also much gold, which is known to exist along 
the Copper River. For many years past gold, copper and furs 
have been brought out of that region by Copper River Indians, 
and exchanged with traders for firearms and food. The Copper 
Indians are a ferocious tribe, and during the last few years have 
become well equipped with guns and ammunition. Knowing 
the value of their rich stakes, and that the ingress of white men 
would mean their retirement, the Indians have steadfastly refused 
to permit a single white man to explore their country. Every 
man making the attempt has been told to keep out, and when 
he persisted has been killed. 

After the Copper. 

The Copper River tribe numbers nearly iooo, and as they 
have been well able to carry out their threats, no attempt to 
molest them has been made in recent years. Now, however, it 
is intended to teach these natives that white men must eventually 
be allowed to prospect and take out the mineral riches of their 
domain. 

One hundred men, heavily armed, will compose the expedition. 
24 



370 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

They will be led into the Copper River section by Judge Joseph 
Kuhn, who has been collecting data regarding Copper River 
for years, and was the originator of the project. The Indians 
will not be molested unless they attack the exploring party. 
Traditions of the last sixty years have ascribed great mineral 
wealth to the Copper River country. At Sitka, it is said, that 
in 1 83 1 a Russian trader invaded that section with eight men. 
They were killed when within two days' march to the seacoast. 
Coal of fair quality exists in good quantity in several parts of 
Alaska. At Coal Harbor an ample supply of a rather poor 
quality of lignite has been worked in a spasmodic way for some 
time. A semi-bituminous lignite is mined along the northern 
coast by whalers for use on the spot. It makes steam quickly, 
but the quantities of ash and cinder are something of an 
objection. A glossy, semi-bituminous lignite, which steams well 
and is mined without much labor, is found near Kilisnoo, and 
good coal exists on Silkinak Island. A new coal mine has just 
been opened six miles from Fort Cudahy, and will be promptly 
developed to supply fuel to the river steamers. Coal is also 
mined in the Pelly River country. 

Lead and Other Riches. 

Lead is found on Whale Bay and Kadiak Island, and there are 
indications of paying deposits in the interior. A mine on the 
Fish River has been opened for working by a San Francisco 
company. 

Graphite abounds about Port Clarence. Marble exists in 
inexhaustible quantities. 

Petroleum has been found in what are believed to be paying 
quantities on a lake near Kadmai Bay. Samples sent down for 
analysis were of marvelous richness, and a company has been 
formed to handle the product for the Alaskan mining camps. 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 371 

A San Francisco expert, just returned from Alaska, sums up 
the resources as follows : 

" There are other discoveries awaiting the pioneers of Alaska 
than that of gold. Iron and coal abound in these rugged 
mountains, and the necessity of development will be immediatly 
apparent. The source of a new commerce will be established. 
An impetus will be given to the manufacturing interests of the 
Pacific Coast, and the community wealth will receive a more 
substantial benefit than could possibly accrue from individual 
accumulation of riches." 

Canadian " Blue Book." 

The Canadian Government has issued a " Blue Book " on the 
Klondike, extracts from which deserve a place here. It says : 

" It is beyond doubt that a considerable number of pans of 
the dirt on different claims have turned out over $200 worth of 
gold, while those which run from ten dollars to fifty dollars have 
been very numerous. In the line of these finds further south is 
the Cassiar gold fields, in British Columbia, so the presumption 
is that we have in our territory along the easterly watershed of 
the Yukon a gold-bearing belt of indefinite width and upward of 
300 miles long, exclusive of the British Columbia part of it." 

" Gold is not the only mineral wealth of the Yukon, it appears. 
Mr. Ogilvie states that copper has been found on the Ton-dac 
Creek, above Fort Reliance, and several small veins have been 
found in the vicinity. With better facilities it may become, he 
says, a valuable feature of the country. A small seam of asbes- 
tos was also found a short distance from Fort Cudahy, and as 
there is quite an area of serpentine in that neighborhood, asbestos 
of commercial value may yet be found. 

" Still another valuable feature is the coal fields which the dis- 
trict possesses. On Coal Creek, about seven miles up, overlying 



372 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

a coarse sandstone and under drift clay and gravel, a seam of 
twelve feet six inches has been discovered. It is certain that 
coal extends along the valley of the Yukon from Coal Creek, ten 
or twelve mile down, and from Coal Creek up to Twelve-Mile 
Creek, which flows into the Yukon about thirty miles above 
Fort Cudahy. Coal is also found in the upper part of Klondike 
and on other creeks." 

Gold-bearing quartz, the report states, has been found in Cone 
Hill, which stands midway in the valley of the Forty-Mile River, 
a couple of miles above the junction with the Yukon. The 
quantity in sight surpasses that of the famous Treadwell mine on 
the coast, and the quality is better. Were it on the coast the 
Treadwell would be diminutive beside it. 

Not far from Cone Hill a ledge had been found last spring on 
the Chindindu River (known in the district as the Twelve-Mile 
Creek), by an American expert prospecting for the North Ameri- 
can Transportation and Trading Company, which the expert said 
he had never read of or seen anything like in the world. He 
had spent years of his life in the best mining districts of the 
United States, and he assured Mr. Ogilvie that this section of 
country promised better than any he ever saw before, and he 
was going to spend the rest of his life there. 

By Governor Mcintosh. 

Governor H. C. Mcintosh, of the Northwest Territory, which 
includes the Canadian Yukon, says the Klondike diggings will 
reach $10,000,000 in the season of 1897. In a recent interview 
about the new camp, Governor Mcintosh said : 

" We are only on the threshold of the greatest discovery ever 
made. Gold has been piling up in all these innumerable streams 
for hundreds of years. Much of the territory the foot of man 
has never trod. It would hardly be possible for one to exag- 



RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 373 

gerate the richness, not only of the Klondike, but of other dis- 
tricts in the Canadian Yukon. At the same time, the folly of 
thousands rushing in there without proper means of subsistence 
and utter ignorance of geographical conditions of the country 
should be kept ever in mind. 

" There are fully 9000 miles of these golden waterways in the 
region of the Yukon. Rivers, creeks and streams of every size 
and description are all rich in gold. I derived this knowledge 
from many old Hudson Bay explorers, who assured me that 
they considered the gold next to inexhaustible. 

" In 1894 I made a report to Sir John Thompson, then premier 
of Canada, who died the same year, at Windsor Castle, strongly 
urging that a body of Canadian police be established on the river 
to maintain order. This was done in 1895, and the British out- 
post of Fort Cudahy was founded. 

Prospect in Other Streams. 

" I have known gold to exist there since 1889, consequent upon 
a report made to me by W. Ogilvie, the government explorer. 
Many streams that will no doubt prove to be as rich as the Klon- 
dike have not been explored or prospected. Among these I 
might mention Dominion Creek, Hootalinqua River, Stewart 
River, Liard River and a score of other streams comparatively 
unknown. 

" It is my judgment and opinion, that the 1897 yield of the 
Canadian Yukon will exceed $10,000,000 in gold. Of course, 
as in the case of the Cariboo and Cassiar districts years ago, it 
will be impossible accurately to estimate the full amount taken 
out. 

" There is now far in excess of $ 1 ,000,000 remaining already 
mined on the Klondike. It is in valises, tin cans and lying loose 
in saloons, but just as sacredly guarded there and apparently as 



374 RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 

safe as if it were in a vault. Already this spring we have official 
knowledge of over $2,000,000 in gold having been taken from 
the Klondike camps. It was shipped out on the steamships 
Excelsior and Portland. 

" Incidentally I may say we have data of an official nature 
which lead us to believe that the gold output of the Rossland 
and Kootenai districts for 1897 will be in excess of $7,000,000. 
I should have said, and I have no hesitancy in asserting, that 
within the course of five years the gold yield of the three dis- 
tricts named will exceed that of either Colorado, California or 
South Africa." 

A more complete statement of the seal and salmon industries 
will be found in another chapter. 

Adds to our Knowledge. 

In these days when every scrap of information regarding 
Alaska and the gold discoveries is eagerly sought, and the greed 
of gold is leading many to almost certain destruction, it is well 
to consider what is a redeeming feature of the gold craze. The 
finds in the upper Yukon country can at best benefit only a 
limited number of people in a direct manner, while the educa- 
tional value of the gold discoveries to all civilized nations really is 
unlimited. Only a few weeks ago Alaska in general and the 
Klondike region in particular were comparatively unknown. The 
maps contained only indefinite outlines of the more important 
streams and mountain ranges, and as to places of human abode, 
with the exceptions of a few in Southern Alaska, none was re- 
corded. Look at the change now. Chilkoot Pass, Dyea, Lake 
Linderman, Bonanza Creek, Circle City, Fort Cudahy, St. Mich- 
ael's, Dutch Harbor, etc., are on everybody's lips, and many who 
could not locate St. Louis accurately on the maps talk of the 
Klondike River as familiarly as of the Mississippi. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Gold Mining in Alaska. 

Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with Gold 
— Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting — Thawing 
the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Minerals — Pyrites, 
Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the Claim — Local 
Customs — Commissioner Herrman's Digest — Getting Out the Gold — 
Mining in Winter — Work Along the Yukon — Sluicing for Gold — Dry 
Placer Miners — Dredging for Gold — Old Miner's Advice — Gold-bearing 
Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike — Banks and Banking. 

\TO history has recorded, nor has tradition handed down, 
j T| whether the first gold which excited man's admiration 
and afterward his cupidity was a nugget of the virgin 
metal or only glittering, yellow dust. Probably it was the former 
and quite likely the lump was a large one. But since that primi- 
tive time the thirst for gold then created has grown more 
insatiable till famishing mankind in the search for the precious 
metal has literally changed the face of nature over a good 
portion of the known world. 

Probably the first man to make a " strike " valued the nugget 
mainly because it was large and bright, but smaller bits of the 
same brilliant substance came ere long to have a recognized 
value proportioned to their size, and when at length some 
unusually long-headed antedeluvian hit upon the fact that a 
pound of gold dust could be made into one lump just as large 
and just as brilliant as a nugget of the same weight the day of 
"dust" had dawned. And the day of dust was the day when 
men began to " wash " the golden sands of the ancient river 
beds and lay up for themselves treasures on earth. 

Placer mining, in which the gold found " free " in the gravel 
beds is washed clean of earthy dross, is essentially u poor 

375 



376 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

man's " mining. It needs few tools and little capital, and there 
is no hindering patent on the process. It has been followed 
from the earliest times and in much the same manner in all 
parts of the world. Nations which had nothing else in common 
were alike in their methods and tools for placer mining. The 
pans and panning described by Mungo Park were practically 
identical with those of the " days of '49," and the prospector of 
'97 in the Klondike needs no other types of tools than are in 
use by the rude native miners of every gold bearing region on 
earth. 

In the shallow diggings or placers nature has for ages been 
performing the work for which the quartz miner must invent all 
manner of machinery and employ a vast amount of capital and 
skilled labor — the disintegration of the gold-bearing rock and 
the concentration of the metal. Consequently, the unskilled 
laborer, whose capital is his own strength and a few of the sim- 
plest tools, is able to extract, on a remunerative scale, immense 
quantities of gold which, under its original condition, spread 
through quartz and other hard rocks, would have needed vast 
amounts of capital and much machinery for its elimination, and 
in many instances would not have repaid the outlay. It is easy 
to see why placers are " poor men's " mines. 

Exhausting the Surfacings. 

The exhaustion of the shallow placers of the older gold fields 
is fast approaching, that class of mining being abandoned in 
those regions in America almost entirely to the patient Chinese. 
Yet it should not be forgotten these shallow washings have often 
led the miner to the very door of vast storehouses of wealth in the 
veins in the hills and mountains. In California, in New South 
Wales and in Victoria deep leads were nearly all discovered by 
prospecting the surfacing. From this the Alaskan miner will 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 



377 



understand that however rich his placer claim may be, it is, more 
than that, the likely guide post to a still vaster treasure, and he 
will be able to understand why " Lucky " Baldwin intends to turn 
his great experience and ample resources to the locating of the 
" mother lode." 

But the majority of the men now in or going into the Alas- 




HYDRAULIC MINING. 

kan diggings or the Klondike have neither taste, time nor means 
to hunt for the " mother lode." They have taken it for granted 
that nature has extracted the yellow metal from the rocks for 
them, and they want the benefit of her bounty in a hurry, and 
all they can get of it. 

The first thing for the prospector to do is to pick out a likely 



378 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

locality to prospect. Judgment and technical knowledge and 
experience all count for something in making this choice, but 
they are not infallible. The novice may have better luck than 
the old-timer, and it is worthy of note in this connection that old 
miners are firm believers in " luck." The experiences of the last 
two years in the Yukon Basin would seem to go far to confirm 
their faith. 

A man just back from Dawson City with $100,000 in dust to 
his credit told this story : 

" Men who had scarcely one dollar six months ago are now 
bonanza kings carrying $50,000 in gold dust and owning claims 
that they would not sell for that amount. It is simply chance 
or luck and nothing else. Dozens of worthy fellows have 
worked hard and not " struck " anything yet, while others have 
literally stumbled into their good fortunes. Last November a 
man went out on the creek with others to stake a claim. He 
was so drunk that he scarcely knew — much less cared — where 
he was or what he was doing, but he staked. Now, he can com- 
mand his hundreds of thousands." 

Building a House. 

Having selected a locality the next thing is to build a house, 
or hut, for the daily life of a prospector or miner on the Yukon 
is rough and hard, and a warm home is absolutely essential to 
the health and cheerful spirit without which he cannot hope to 
succeed. If there are four men in the party, the building need 
not take more than a day. Architecture is all " out of the 
same log " in that region, and any house will do for a model. 
Four log walls well chinked with the abundant moss, a dirt roof 
and a chimney are the main essentials. 

Then, out for " color." 

Prospecting in this land of long winters is generally conducted 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 379 

in the season when everything is locked in frost. During the 
short summer the streams are full of rushing water, and pros- 
pecting except along the banks is difficult and often impossible. 
The absence of water might be deemed a drawback in winter 
prospecting, but the novice will quickly learn that it takes but a 
little water to wash out a sample pan, and that amount can 
easily be obtained by melting snow or ice. Moreover, to an 
expert placer miner, water is not a necessity. He pans dry. 
The Alaskan "dust" is very coarse averaging nearly a wheat 
grain in size. This makes easy panning. 

Mrs. Frederick Schwatka gives a none too alluring picture of 
this stage of the Yukon miner's experience in these words : 

" There isn't very much said about the kind of ground that 
the gold hunters have to prospect over in the river regions. It 
is frightfully hard to travel. In the winter it is all ice and in 
the summer it is buried deep with drift wood and debris from the 
spring floods till it is almost impassable. All the rivers are 
flooded every spring and fall and the waters carry off huge pieces 
of frozen banks." 

But the Alaska argonaut knew all this before he started, so he 
is not disheartened. 

Thawing the Ground. 

In hunting for gold prospectors dig a hole down to bed rock, 
which is generally found at a depth of from fifteen to eighteen 
feet. In the Yukon Basin they have to melt the ground, a few 
inches at a time, as they dig. The first twelve feet or so of earth 
is non-auriferous. Under it lies a stratum of coarse gravel three 
feet or more in thickness, which is rich in the precious metal, 
most of it being in the shape of small nuggets or grains. It is 
called " dust," but it is much coarser than the dust found in other 
parts of the world. Some of it is so large that a big percentage 
can be picked out by hand as the gravel is brought up out of the 



380 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

hole, but the general practice is to sluice or pan wash it. 

The feeble suns of the short summer do not thaw out the 
frozen ground to its full depth in the Yukon Basin, and it has to 
be softened by building huge fires, which are kept going night 
and day until the earth is in such shape that the miners can force 
their way through it with picks. This done, a number of holes 
are dug on each claim, but even then when the gold gravel is 
taken out it is in frozen chunks resembling small masses of con- 
crete. By making these holes in the summer the miners are 
enabled to work underground a portion of the winter and thus 
prepare for an early wash-up when the spring thaw comes in 
June. To take advantage of this the gravel which has been 
dug out during the winter has to be again softened by fire before 
it can be put through the sluices or pans and the gold separated. 

The gravel is packed in a kind of clay, which makes a con- 
glomerate like concrete, through which, when frozen, the strongest 
man cannot force a pick. When this gravel is thawed it is broken 
up with picks and thrown in a big heap with shovels. It varies 
in depth from fourteen to twenty feet, and it is richest in gold 
close to the bed rock. This is because gold is heavier than 
gravel and settles toward the bottom of any bar or bank in which 
it has accumulated. It is almost unnecessary to say that in sinking 
the holes or shafts every foot of the ground must be prospected 
for "pay dirt." This part of the prospecting consists simply in 
washing out pans of the gravel or sand ; if gold is found the 
claim should be " located " or staked out at once. 

How to Tell Minerals. 

It is necessary to remind the novice that all is not gold that 
glitters. Since the days when the earliest Virginian explorers 
sailed back to England with a ship-load of yellow sand under 
the delusion that they had a cargo of gold, "tenderfeet" have 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 381 

been easily misled, when seeking gold, by iron and copper pyrites 
and by mica. How to distinguish these natural counterfeits is 
worth knowing. 

Iron pyrites, or bisulphide of iron, is a brass-yellow mineral 
occurring in small cubical crystals. It is easily discriminated. 
When strongly heated it is attracted by the magnet, while gold 
never becomes magnetic. Gold is malleable and iron pyrites 
brittle. Gold may be cut in flakes, pyrites not. Heated in 
nitric acid pyrites dissolves with effervescence and abundant red 
fumes, gold is unaffected. The specific gravity of gold is about 
four times that of iron pyrites. Mercury absorbs gold dust, but 
not iron pyrites. 

Copper pyrites, or yellow copper ore, the principal source of 
copper, is a deep brass-yellow colored mineral with a strong me- 
tallic lustre. Its primitive crystalline form is the regular tetra- 
hedron. It crumbles freely under the hammer, and yields to 
the knife ; but instead of giving a solid chip as gold would, pro- 
duces only dust. Heated on charcoal before the blowpipe it 
loses its yellow color and fuses into a dull black globule. Mixed 
with carbonate of soda and a little borax and subjected to the 
blowpipe it will yield a button of metallic copper. 

Mica is a yellow, glistening mineral of foliated structure, and 
semi-metallic luster. It is much lighter than gold and becomes 
flakey when heated to redness and loses its lustre on cooling, 
whereas gold would remain unchanged. 

Black Sand. 

In assaying the'gold sand of rivers, streams, and beaches of the 
Pacific coast, some difficulty is occasionally met with from the 
specular and titanic iron known technically as black sand. Plati- 
num and iridium are often found in the same sands. Following 
are convenient methods of testing these sands : 



382 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

For Atwood's test, take ioo to iooo grains and attack with 

aqua regia in a flask ; cool for thirty minutes, dilute with water 

and filter. If gold is present it will be in solution in the filtrate. 

Evaporate the filtrates to dryness, add a little hydrochloric acid 

and redissolve the dry salt in warm water ; add to the solution 

so formed, protosulphate of iron, which will throw down the gold 

as a fine, dark precipitate. Dry and burn over the lamp. Mix 

residuum with three times its weight of lead, fuse, scarify and 

cupel. 

Mechanical Assay. 

The mechanical test or assay of auriferous sands is of the 
utmost practical value, and may be thus described as scientifically 
performed, it being understood this is only a working test, and 
does not give all the gold as shown by a careful fire assay : Put 
2000 grammes in a pan or, better, in a batea, and wash care- 
fully until the gold begins to appear. Use clean water, and 
when the pan and the small residue are clean, pour off most of 
the water and drop in a globule of pure mercury and a piece of 
cyanide of potassium. As the cyanide begins to dissolve, impart 
a rotary motion to the dish — best done by holding the arms stiff 
and moving the body. As the mercury rolls over and ploughs 
through the sand, under the influence of the cyanide, it will col- 
lect all the particles of free gold. When all has been collected, 
transfer the mercury carefully to a small porcelain cup or test 
tube, and boil with strong, pure nitric acid. When the mercury 
is all dissolved, the acid is poured off, more nitric acid is applied 
cold and rejected, and the gold is then washed with distilled 
water and dried. The second washing with nitric acid is to re- 
move any nitrate of mercury. 

The resulting gold is not pure, but has the composition of the 
natural alloy. To purify it, melt it with silver, hammer it out 
thin, boil twice with nitric acid, dry and heat it to redness. To 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 383 

calculate the assay, take each of the original 2000 grammes to 
mean a pound and decimals of a gramme to mean decimals of a 
pound. Multiply the value of gold by the fraction of a gramme 
produced, and the result will be the value of the gold in a ton. 
In this same connection it may be noted that it is important, 
in estimating the value of purchased gold dust to examine care- 
fully to see if there is any counterfeit or " bogus " dust present. 
If all from the same locality the dust will have a uniform color. 
A fair sample of the whole lot of dust under inspection should 
be placed in an evaporating dish and nitric acid poured upon it. 
If any reaction takes place there is foreign matter present. 

Locating the Claims. 

If the prospects indicate a claim that will pay for working, 
the miner's first step is to locate the claim. 

The manner of locating placer mining claims differs from that 
of locating claims upon veins or lodes. In locating a vein or 
lode claim, the United States statutes provide that no claim shall 
extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the 
vein at the surface, and that no claim shall be limited by mining 
regulations to less than 25 feet on each side of the middle vein 
at the surface. In locating claims called " placers," however, 
the law provides that no location of such claim upon surveyed 
lands shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claim- 
ant. The supreme court, however, has held that one individual 
can hold as many locations as he can purchase and rely upon 
his possessory title ; that a separate patent for each location is 
unnecessary. 

A patent for any land claimed and located may be obtained 
in the following manner : "Any person, association or corpora- 
tion authorized to locate a claim, having claimed and located a 
piece of land, and who has or have complied with the terms of 



384 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 



the law, may file in the proper land office an application for a 
patent under oath, showing such compliance, together with a 
plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common made by 
or under the direction of the United States surveyor general, 
showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which 




GUARDING HIS CLAIM. 

shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and 
shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such 
application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land 
embraced in such plat, previous to the application for a patent 
on such plat ; and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 3S5 

that such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of 
the notice in such land office ; and shall thereupon be entitled 
to a patent to the land in the manner following : The registrar 
of said land office upon the filing of such application, plat, field 
notes, notices and application, shall publish a notice that such 
application has been made for a period of sixty days, in a news- 
paper to be by him designated, as published nearest to such 
claim ; and he shall post such notice in his office for the same 
period. The claimant at the time of filing such application, or 
at any time thereafter, within sixty days of publication, shall file 
with the registrar a certificate of the United States surveyor 
general that $500 worth of labor has been expended or improve- 
ments made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; that the 
plat is correct, with such further description by reference to natural 
objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim and 
furnish an accurate description to be incorporated in the patent. 
At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, the claimant 
shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been 
posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of 
publication." 

If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the registrar of 
the land office at the expiration of said sixty days, the claimant 
is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of 
$5 per acre in the case of a lode claim, and $2.50 per acre for 
a placer. 

As to Local Customs. 

The location of a placer claim and keeping possession thereof 
until a patent shall be issued are also subject to local customs, 
about which the wise miner will thoroughly inform himself. In 
Alaska the holder of a claim is required to do at least $100 
worth of work on his claim every year for five years to get an 
absolute title to it. He has the privilege of doing the entire $500 
25 



386 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

worth of work at once if he chooses to do so, and on proof of it 
may get his patent. The man who locates a claim is allowed a 
full year before he puts up his location notice for working the first 
assessment, during which time his right is absolute and is also 
negotiable. A purchaser fulfilling the obligation entered into 
by the discoverer enjoys the same rights. 

In Alaska and in the Klondike the first miners in a district 
hold a meeting and fix the size of the claims, and also agree as 
to how much work shall constitute an assessment. The miners 
also elect a register. 

The size of a claim, as fixed by agreement among the miners 
of any particular locality, is a section of the creek of a certain 
length — sometimes 200 feet — and it extends from rim to rim in 
width. The reason of this variableness in the size of claims on 
the different creeks is that on some a greater length is required 
to make them worth a man's while to work them. The paying 
deposits may be scattered so a man could make wages only by 
working here and there over a large territory. Of course, the 
conditions surrounding the first discovery made on a creek are 
the basis for fixing the size of a claim on that stream. The dis- 
coverer of a new field is allowed two claims, while others are 
permitted to take but one at a time. However, when a locator 
has worked out his assessment of a few days' work he is at 
liberty to take another. 

Commissioner Herrman's Digest. 

Commissioner Herrman, of the United States Land Office at 
Washington, briefly digested the law bearing on placer claims as 
follows : 

" When you patent a claim it is necessary for you to be a citi- 
zen of the United States or to have declared your intention of 
becoming one. 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 387 

" This law, however, is of little consequence when placer dig- 
ging is concerned. Under our laws anybody is privileged to 
dig out gold wherever it is found. When it comes to taking out 
a patent for the land the miner will have exhausted the super- 
ficial supply of gold and moved on. 

" There is practically no need of taking out patents for placer 
mining. The miner comes along, sees a likely piece of ground, 
digs up a few panfuls, extracts the gold, if there is any, stays 
there till he has obtained as much as he can from that piece of 
ground with his primitive implements, and then moves on to 
another likely piece. 

" Pretty soon along comes the quartz miner with his machin- 
ery and takes out a claim for a piece of ground which the placer 
miner may have worked superficially." 

As to locations on the Klondike, see the chapter an " Mining 
Laws." 

Getting Out the Gold. 

Now comes the hardest part of the miners' work — getting out 
the golden treasure. 

In summer in Alaska about the only tools required in the 
placers are a pick, shovel and gold pan, about the size of a small 
dish pan and made of copper or white enameled iron, preferably 
the latter because the relief enables the miner to see the gold 
more distinctly especially when it is in fine specks. The miner 
squats beside the water, dips water into the pan, oscillates it with 
a motion that can only be acquired by experience, and gradually 
sloughs out the water, dirt, gravel, etc., retaining the gold in the 
pan. Gold being the heaviest substance it is, of course, the 
easiest to retain in the pan. If it be in the shape of nuggets, 
the miner picks them out of the pan with his fingers ; if the 
gold be in small particles, fine gold or " flour " gold, he dries 
the pan in the sun and carefully brushes the deposit into a 



388 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

piece of buckskin or other material used for carrying the pre- 
cious metal. Some miners prefer the cradle to the pan for get- 
ting gold. 

It is nearly always desirable, but not always possible, to have 
a sluice. This sometimes is very primitive. It may be only a 
gully bottomed with cobblestones, of plank troughing, with 
riffles or cleats at intervals across the bottom. In either case, 
the gold-bearing dirt or gravel is thrown in while water is run- 
ning through the sluice. The current is supposed to carry away 
the worthless rocks and dirt, allowing the gold to sink to the 
bottom. If the gold is in finely divided particles, the sluice is 
made tight and quicksilver is placed above the riffles, which 
envelops and holds the gold dust. No two mines are exactly 
alike, and the manner of working them has to be varied to suit 
the circumstances. 

Mining in Winter. 

In placers in winter in Alaska and in the Klondike, practically 
all the year round, it is necessary to melt the frozen auriferous 
gravel by means of huge fires in order to make it possible to 
work it with a pick. Formerly miners used to thaw out the 
whole area of their claims down to bed rock. Now they sink a 
shaft to the bottom of the gravel, and tunnel along underneath 
in the gold-bearing layer. As the tunnel is all the way through 
the solid frozen earth, no shoring is required, and the only 
expense for timber is for fuel. 

The way in which the tunneling is done is interesting, as it 
has to be carried on in cold weather, when everything is frozen. 
The miners build fires over the area which they wish to work, 
and keep them lighted for the space of about twenty-four hours. 
Then, at the expiration of this period, the gravel will be melted 
and softened to a depth of perhaps six inches. This is then 
taken off and other fires built, until the gold-bearing layer is 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 389 

reached. When the shaft is down so far fires are built at the 
bottom, against the sides of the layer, and tunnels made in this 
manner. Dry wood is piled against the face of the drift, and 
then other pieces are set slantwise over the heap of fuel. As 
the fire burns, the gravel falls down from above and gradually 
covers the slanting shield of wood. The fire smoulders away 
and becomes charcoal burning. It is when it reaches this con- 
fined stage during the night that its heat is most effective against 
the face of the drift. Next day the miner finds the face of his 
drift thawed out for a distance of from ten to eighteen inches, 
according to conditions. He shovels out dirt, and if only part 
is pay dirt he puts only that on his dump. Thus, at the rate of 
a few inches a day, drifting out of precious gravel goes on, and 
the dump is slowly added to until spring, when the torrents 
come down, and the washing and sluicing and cradling begin. 

Work on the Yukon. 

The mines of the Yukon are of a class by themselves, and it 
is necessary to follow new methods for getting the gold. To 
begin with, the ground is frozen. From the roots of the moss, 
which often is more than a foot thick, to the greatest depth that 
ever has been reached, the ground is as hard as a bone. The gold 
is found in a certain drift of gravel, which lies at varying depths, 
often as far down as twenty feet. Only that portion of the gravel 
just above hard pan — by which is usually meant clay — carries 
gold in any quantity, and in favored localities this particular gravel 
is extraordinarily rich. In fact, there is more free gold found 
within the same space, taking the whole district through, than 
ever was found anywhere in placers. Toward the heads of the 
creeks, and likewise toward the original source of the mineral, 
the gravel is found nearer the surface than at places further down 
the streams. It is also coarser gold, but, on the other hand, it 



390 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

covers a narrower strip of the valley. Going down the creeks, 

the deposit is spread out over a much wider area, and is deeper 

in the ground. The gold is in smaller particles, but the quantity 

may be as great as anywhere. As in nearly all placer mines, 

the low places of what has formerly been the bed of the creek 

are the richest, the deposits decreasing in quantity toward the 

outer edges. 

Another Description. 

Land Surveyor Ogilvie gives the following description of a 
method of placer mining in vogue across the border : 

"The process of placer mining is about as follows: After 
clearing all the coarse gravel and stones off a patch of ground, 
the miner lifts a little of the firmer gravel or sand in his pan, 
which is a broad, shallow dish, made of strong sheet-iron ; he 
then puts in water enough to fill the pan and gives it a few rapid 
whirls and shakes ; this tends to bring the gold to the bottom on 
account of its great specific gravity. The dish is then shaken 
and held in such a way that the gravel and sand are gradually 
washed out, care being taken to avoid letting out the finer and 
heavier parts that have settled to the bottom. Finally all that is 
left in the pan is whatever gold may have been in the dish, and 
some black sand which almost invariably accompanies it. This 
black sand is nothing but pulverized magnetic iron ore. 

" Should the gold thus found be fine, the contents of the pan 
are thrown into a barrel containing water and a pound or two of 
mercury. As soon as the gold comes in contact with the mer- 
cury it combines and forms an amalgam. This process is con- 
tinued until enough amalgam has been formed to pay for 'roast- 
ing' or 'firing.' It is then squeezed through a buckskin bag, all 
the mercury that comes through the bag being put back into the 
barrel to serve again, and what remains in the bag is placed in a 
retort, if the miner has one, or, if not, on a shovel, and heated 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 391 

until nearly all the mercury is vaporized. The gold then re- 
mains in a lump with some mercury still held in combination 
with it. This is called the 'pan' or 'hand' method, and is never, 
on account of its slowness and laboriousness, continued for any 
length of time when it is possible to procure a ' rocker,' or to 
make and work sluices. 

Sluicing for Gold. 

" Sluicing is always employed when possible. It requires a 
good supply of water, with sufficient head or fall. The process 
is as follows : Planks are procured and formed into a box of 
suitable width and depth. Slats are fixed across the bottom of 
the box at suitable intervals, or shallow holes bored in the 
bottom in such order that no particle could run along the bottom 
in a straight line and escape running over a hole. Several of 
these boxes are then set up with a considerable slope, and are 
fitted into one another at the ends, like a stovepipe. A stream 
of water is now directed into the upper end of the highest box. 
The gravel having been collected, as in the case of the rocker, 
it is shoveled into the upper box, and is washed downward by 
the strong current of water. The gold is detained by its weight, 
and is held by the slats or in the holes mentioned ; if it is fine, 
mercury is placed behind the slats or in these holes to catch it. 

" In this way about three times as much dirt can be washed 
as by the rocker, and consequently three times as much gold 
can be secured in a given time. 

"A great many of the miners spend their time in the summer 
in prospecting, and in the winter resort to what is called ' burn- 
ing.' They make fires on the surface, thus thawing the ground 
until the bedrock is reached. The pay dirt is brought to 
the surface and heaped in a pile until spring, when water can 
be obtained. The sluice boxes are then set up and the dirt is 



392 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

washed out, thus enabling the miner to work advantageously 
and profitably the year round." 

Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer Excelsior, one of the 
Alaska boats, wrote to a friend in San Diego the following story 
of good luck in the Yukon placers : 

" There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bedrock, the pay 
streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunneled out 
while the ground is frozen. Of course, the ground taken out is 
thawed by building fires, and when the thaw comes and water 
rushes in they set their sluices and wash the dirt. Two of our 
fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth a large one in 
the bush and sold their claims for $45,000, getting $4500 down, 
the remainder to be paid in monthly installments of $10,000 
each. The purchasers had no more than $5000 paid. They 
were twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. Then there was 
no water to sluice with, but one fellow made a rocker, and in 
ten days took out the $10,000 for the first installment. So, tun- 
neling and rocking,they took out $40,000 before there was water 

to sluice with." 

Dry Placer Miners. 

Machines known as " dry placer miners " are in use in various 
southern diggings and may be expected to make their appear- 
ance in Alaska and the Klondike soon, where it is believed they 
would be peculiarly well adapted to the conditions imposed on 
mining by the climate. A feature of some of these dry washers 
is that, unlike sluicing or hydraulicking, they will effect a separ- 
ation of the gold from the black sand. 

The principle in these dry washers is that of the air blast re- 
moving or blowing the fine sand or dust from the finely pulver- 
ized material which is fed upon a panning table of perforated 
metal covered with cloth and crossed by copper riffles. The 
sand and earthy dust are blown away, the gangue rolls down 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 393 

the incline over the riffles, and is discharged as tailings, and 
the gold settles on the cloth behind the riffles and is removed in 
the daily ''clean up." A small size of dry washer is made for 
prospectors. 

A combination sled and gold " rocker" is being largely sold. 
It is about six feet long, eighteen inches wide and the runners 
stand up about ten inches. The "bed," when taken off, consti- 
tutes a " rocker" of a form approved by miners. It is claimed 
that 300 pounds of provisions, besides a miner's outfit of tools 
can be carried on it. 

Dredging for Gold. 

One of the new schemes for getting the gold out of the Yukon 
is to dredge the river bed. A company has been formed to 
carry out the work, and intends beginning work in the great river 
in the spring. The promoter argues that the gold deposits of 
the rivers and creeks are the results of the washing down by 
high waters and the carrying down of ice floes. Upon this as- 
sumption the argument is made that in the deeper channel the 
gold has sunk lower, and, as the dredgers will work down to 
bed rock, the belief is that the result of pumping from the bottom 
will be proportionately richer. 

An experiment is being conducted in Frazier River in the use 
of centrifugal pumps on barges to pump up the earth along the 
bottom of the river and wash out the gold that has been deposi- 
ted there for ages. The nozzles of these pumps, which are 
screened to prevent big bowlders from being taken in, are forced 
to the bottom of the river, and as the sand and water reach the 
top of the barge they are carefully screened, so that all the gold 
is secured. If the experiment proves a success it will revolu- 
tionize placer mining. 

A report on the Birch Creek district, issued during the summer 
of 1 897, says : 



394 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

" Some miners have planned to work this and other good 
ground supposed to exist under the deep covering of moss and 
gravel in the wide valley of the Mammoth and Crooked Creeks, 
by hydraulicking, the water to be obtained by tapping Miller and 
Mastadon Creeks near the head." 

A machine has recently been invented, intended to use Alaska 
petroleum if it can be had in sufficient quantities, and if not, oil 
brought from the States or from Ontario, by means of which it 
is expected to thaw the frozen gravel and drift in the placer beds, 
and vastly cheapen and expedite the process of gathering the gold. 
The machine is so light that one man can easily handle and 
move it from place to place. 

The fuel oil is contained in a tank which is mounted on wheels, 

and is provided with a blower to force air into the tank and oil 

out. A lead of pipe runs under a piece of sheet iron, usually 

three feet long by twenty inches wide, which has beveled sides. 

Beneath the cover is a coil of perforated pipe through which the 

oil makes its escape and is burned. It is so arranged there is 

always a downward draft, and the force of the flame is continually 

against the ground. 

Old Miner's Advice. 

Here is some good advice by an old miner to " tenderfeet," 
who are apt to stampede easily and be led to run after false gods : 

" If you have once got a claim that is paying a fairly satisfac- 
tory amount of gold stick to it. You are just about as apt to 
strike a rich pocket there as anywhere else, and it is much better 
to be taking out even a comparatively small sum regularly than 
to spend your time roving from one place to another, and get- 
ting next to nothing anywhere. You have got to have perse- 
verance, and be willing to plod in this pursuit, as well as in any 
other, if you want to succeed in it." 

It is advice worth pondering and heeding. 




HYDRAULIC MINING! WASHING OUT THE GOLD. 



395 



396 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

Placers, wherever found, are indications of gold-bearing veins 
in the neighborhood. Alaska is believed to be no exception to 
the apparent rule. That rich quartz will be found in the high- 
lands of the Territory there seems to be no good reason to 
doubt, and the day when the subterranean mining industry will 
be the principal resource of the " Seward Purchase " may not be 
far distant. As usual, the first craze was over the placers, but 
the extraordinary richness of the surfacings attracted the atten- 
tion of men of capital, and their agents are already in the field 
prospecting for gold-bearing quartz. The sequence of develop- 
ment in new gold fields is always the same — first, the men with 
pans to gather the riches on the surface ; next, miners with " long 
Toms " ; third, hydraulicking, and then, quartz mining under- 
ground. Alaska may break the record for getting into the 

fourth stage. 

How Gold Came to Klondike. 

Professor Frederick Wright, writing of " How Gold Came to 
the Klondike," says : 

" Little is known about the geology of the Yukon River, where 
the Klondike mines have been found. Being placer mines, the 
gold may have been transported many miles. The means of 
transportation are both glaciers and rivers. The Klondike region 
is on the north side of the St. Elias Alps. Alaska was never 
completely covered with glacial ice. The glaciers flowed both 
north and south from these summits. Dawson and Professor 
Russell both report well-defined terminal moraines across the 
upper Yukon Valley. The source of the Klondike gold, there- 
fore, is from the south. 

Placer mines originate in the disintegration of gold-bearing 
quartz veins or mass like that at Juneau. Under subaerial agen- 
cies these become dissolved. Then the glaciers transport the 
material as far as they go, when the floods of water carry it on 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 397 

still further. Gold, being heavier than the other materials asso- 
ciated with it, lodges in the crevasses or in the rough places at 
the bottom of the streams. So to speak, nature has stamped 
and panned the gravel first and prepared the way for man to finish 
the work. The amount of gold found in the placer mines is 
evidence not so much perhaps of a very rich vein as of the dis- 
integration of a very large vein. 

" The ' mother lode ' has been looked for in vain in California, 
and perhaps will be so in Alaska. But it exists somewhere up 
the streams on which the placer mines are found. The discovery 
of gold in glacial deposits far away from its native place is 
familiar to American geologists. 

" It is evident, however, that in Alaska the transportation of 
gold has not gone so far." 

General Dufjfield, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey, also inclines to the glacier view. He says : 

" The gold has been ground out of the quartz by the pressure 
of the glaciers, which lie and move along the courses of the 
streams, exerting a tremendous pressure. This force is present 
to a more appreciable extent in Alaska than elsewhere, and I be- 
lieve that as a consequence more placer gold will be found in 
that region than in any other part of the world." 

Dr. Everett's Views. 

Dr. Willis E. Everett, of Tacoma, says : 

" Alaska was once under glaciers, and the gold now found un- 
doubtedly comes from glacial action, primarily, which has been 
going on for many centuries. The miners are finding, however, 
that what they usually consider bed rock is only a false bed rock, 
and that underneath there is still another bed rock, with larger 
lumps of gold than are found on the first. I believe that the 
country in the interior, back of Klondike, will furnish enormous 



398 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

quantities of gold, and that the rich strikes already made are but 
a small beginning. The district will prove to be about 300 miles 
square." 

This theory of Dr. Everett would seem to be borne out by 
the experience of a young Chicago "tenderfoot" who, being un- 
learned in miner's traditions, not only dug down to hard-pan, 
but went straight on through the clay and found a fabulously 
rich deposit of "dust" and nuggets. Had he been an old miner 
he would have stopped at hard-pan and the treasure would not 
have been uncovered. 

Professor Emmon's Theory. 

Professor S. F. Emmons, of the Geological Survey, says : 
"The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet un- 
touched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles 
found in the river gravels now being washed by the Klondike 
miners have been torn by the erosion of streams. These parti- 
cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which 
carried the lighter matter onward to the ocean, thus forming, by 
gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. Many 
of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big enough to be 
called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich that, as we 
have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are obtained 
from the washing of a single panful. That is what is making 
the people so wild — the prospect of picking money out of the 
dirt by the handful literally." 

Gold-bearing quartz is plentiful in the southeastern portion of 
Alaska, around the great Alaska-Treadwell and Alaska-Mexican 
mines and their smaller likenesses. Such quartz has been found 
in Cone Hill, midway in the valley of the Forty-Mile, and vague 
reports of quartz finds worth working have come in from other 
sections which the winter's prospecting is expected to verify. 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 399 

And in the spring, too, " Lucky " Baldwin starts out to find the 
" mother lode." There is no doubt that lode mining will be 
carried on in the Alaskan mountains when the country is settled. 

Banks and Banking. 

After the miner on the Yukon has dug and panned out his 
gold, although the country is full of naturally honest men and 
of others as honest as a wholesome fear of Judge Lynch can 
make them, his next thought will be where he can stow it away 
and keep it safe till he gets ready to carry it back to civilization. 
Heretofore he has deposited it, if he banked it all, with Captain 
Healy in his safe at Circle City. Next year he will have bank- 
ing facilities of approved pattern at his very door. 

The North American Transportation and Trading Company 
has decided to carry out the plan of establishing five, and possi- 
bly six, banks on the Yukon, at Dawson City, Fort Cudahy 
Circle City, Fort Get There and St. Michael's. W. H. Hubbard, 
of Chicago, went into the basin via the Chilkoot Pass in August 
to complete the arrangements for opening the institutions. Be- 
fore leaving for Alaska, he said : 

"The banks will be primarily banks of exchange. We shall 
accept gold dust and sell exchange on Chicago, New York and 
San Francisco for it. In Chicago we shall accept currency and 
issue letters of credit to those going into the mines. 

"As I understand it, gold dust is the only ' currency ' in the 
interior of Alaska. It passes current for $iy an ounce, its 
market value being a trifle more than that amount. Gold dust 
is used even in petty transactions, as there is not enough silver 
for change. A miner going into a saloon for a drink takes out 
his bag of dust, lays it on the bar, and the saloon-keeper weighs 
the fifty cents or one dollar and hands back the change. All 
supplies are paid for in like manner. 



400 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 

" Loans by the banks will be a later consideration. No 
doubt traders will flock in and all kinds of business established. 
The merchants there as elsewhere probably will need accommo- 
dations, and where their standing warrants it we shall let them 
have money. The banking business is in embryo. My work 
will be to establish it at the five posts which the North American 
Company has founded." 

The Canadian Government has under consideration a project 
for the establishment of a "treasure house " at Dawson City in 
which will be stored the miners' gold and for which they will 
receive drafts on United States or Canadian banks for the full 
market value of their " dust." 

If the gold is stored in a central place, under this proposed 
plan, the officials of the law will find the task of preserving 
order greatly simplified, for the miners will not be under the 
necessity of carrying arms, nor will the rougher sort likely 
spend as much gold in riotous living. It will, of course, be 
necessary for the government to take great precaution to insure 
the safety of the gold, but the presence of fifty or a hundred 
mounted police and three or four Maxim guns will be a great 
deterrent to the envious and greedy. 

Wells, Fargo & Co. will likely establish an office in Dawson 

City in the spring. 

Effects of Discovery. 

Touching the effect of the discovery of gold in Alaska, 
Director of the Mint Preston, said : 

"It is too early to determine. We cannot expect to see 
any material effect in the London market, where gold is quoted 
every day, until a year or two have passed. 

" I should judge from all accounts that the discoveries of the 
Klondike region would add a tremendous amount of gold to the 
world's stock. The tendency of this will be, of course, to 



GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 401 

increase the value of silver, but I doubt if it will very greatly 
raise its market value. At any rate, we must wait from one to 
two years to determine that. 

" It is unfair to assume that the increase in the value of silver 
resulting from the discovery of gold in Alaska will be anything 
like that which resulted in the early '50s from the discoveries in 
California and in Australia. At that time the supply of silver 
in the United States was almost nil, and there was very little 
silver coinage. At the present time, however, there is so much 
silver that the world, as the market has indicated this week, does 
not know what to do with it. There cannot be expected, there- 
fore, a very high jump in the price of silver under any discovery 
of gold." 
26 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Resume of Mining Laws. 

Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining — 
Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed — Call 
for United States Troops — Size of Claims — Canadian Laws. 

IN gold mining the law may be the survival of the fittest, but 
it is not the rule of the strongest. Every phase of the 
work is hedged around by legal enactments, and the miners 
are obliged to observe as much red tape, away out in the wilder- 
ness, thousands of miles from civilization, as a citizen would in 
New York or Chicago. 

On the American side of the boundary line all mining opera- 
tions are subject only to the United States mining laws and the 
general laws of the State of Oregon, as they existed in 1884, 
when the law providing a civil government for Alaska was 
passed. 

That law provided " that the general laws of the State of 
Oregon now in force are hereby declared to be the law in said 
district, so far as the same be applicable and not in conflict with 
the provisions of this act or the laws of the United States." 

Thus the laws of Oregon in force May 17, 1884, are the laws 
of Alaska. As a matter of fact, however, little attention to 
niceties of detail is ever paid. In a large sense, the law of 
the miners is an unwritten code, but that code is kept within the 
legal statutes. 

On the Canadian side of the boundary — that is, in Klondike — 
the mining laws of British Columbia are in force. For the con- 
venience of readers who may contemplate trying their fortunes 
in the great Northwest a digest of the mining laws of both coun- 
tries is herewith given. 

402 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 403 

The Placer Mining Law of the United States, from the Revised 
Statutes, provides as follows : 

The term " placer claim " as defined by the Supreme Court of 
the United States, is : " Ground within defined boundaries which 
contains mineral in its earth, sand or gravel ; ground that in- 
cludes valuable deposits not in place, that is, not fixed in rock, 
but which are in a loose state, and may in most cases be collected 
by washing or amalgamation without milling." 

The manner of locating placer mining claims differ from that 
of locating claims upon veins or lodes. In locating a vein or 
lode claim, the United States Statutes provide that no claim shall 
extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the vein 
at the surface, and that no claim shall be limited by mining regu- 
lations to less than 25 feet on each side of the middle of the vein 
at the surface. In locating claims called "placers," however, 
the law provides that no location of such claim upon surveyed 
lands shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claim- 
ant. The Supreme Court, however, has held that one individual 
can hold as many locations as he can purchase and rely upon 
his possessory title ; that a separate patent for each location is 
unnecessary. 

Proof of Citizenship. 

Locaters, however, have to show proof of citizenship or inten- 
tion to become citizens. This may be done in the case of an 
individual by his own affidavit ; in the case of an association in- 
corporated by a number of individuals by the affidavit of their 
authorized agent, made on his own knowledge or upon informa- 
tion and belief ; and in the case of a company organized under 
the laws of any State or Territory, by the filing of a certified 
copy of the charter or certificate of incorporation. 

A patent for any land claimed and located may be obtained 
in the following manner : "Any person, association or corpora- 



404 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

tion authorized to locate a claim, having claimed and located a 
piece of land, and who has or have complied with the terms of 
the law, may file in the proper land office an application for a 
patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a 
plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common made by 
or under the direction of the United States Surveyor General, 
showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which 
shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and 
shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such 
application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land em- 
braced in such plat, previous to the application for a patent on 
such plat ; and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons that 
such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the 
notice in such land office ; and shall thereupon be entitled to a 
patent to the land in the manner following : 

Publishing of Notices. 

"The registrar of said land office upon the filing of such appli- 
cation, plat, field notes, notices and affidavits, shall publish a 
notice that such application has been made, for a period of sixty 
days, in a newspaper to be by him designated, as published 
nearest to such claim ; and he shall post such notice in his office 
for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing such ap- 
plication or at any time thereafter, within sixty days of publica- 
tion, shall file with the registrar a certificate of the United States 
Surveyor General that $500 worth of labor has been expended 
or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; 
that the plat is correct, with such further description by refer- 
ence to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify 
the claim and furnish an accurate description to be incorporated 
in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, 
the claimant shall file his affidavit showing that the plat and 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 405 

notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim dur- 
ing such period of publication." 

If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the registrar of 
the land office at the expiration of said sixty days, the claimant 
is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of 
$5 per acre in the case of a lode claim, and $2.50 per acre for a 
placer. 

The location of a placer claim and keeping possession thereof 
until a patent shall be issued are subject to local laws and customs. 

It will be seen from the following that the Mining Laws of 
British Columbia differ somewhat in detail from those of the 
United States, but are designed to cover essentially the same 
points and subserve the same purpose. The Canadian Statutes 
make these provisions : 

Placer Mining — Registration and Fees. 

At the close of the second sitting of the Canadian Cabinet 
it was announced that the Government had decided to im- 
pose a royalty on all placer diggings on the Yukon in addition 
to $ 1 5 registration fee and $ 100 annual assessment. The royalty 
will be 10 per cent, each on claims with an output of $500 or 
less monthly, and 20 per cent, on every claim yielding above 
that amount monthly. Besides this royalty it has been decided 
in regard to all future claims staked out on other streams or 
rivers, that every alternate claim should be the property of the 
Government, and should be reserved for public purposes and 
sold or worked by the Government for the benefit of the revenue 
of the Dominion. 

For " bar diggings " — A strip of land 100 feet wide at high- 
water mark, and thence extending into the river at its lowest 
water level. 

For " dry diggings " — 100 feet square. 



40G RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

For " creek and river claims " — 500 feet along the direction of 
the stream, extending in width from base to base of the hill or 
bench on either side. The width of such claims, however, is 
limited to 600 feet when the benches are a greater distance apart 
than that. In such a case claims are laid out in areas of 10 
acres, with boundaries running north and south, east and west. 

For " bench claims " — 100 feet square. 

Size of claims to discoverers or parties of discoverers — To 
one discoverer, 300 feet in length ; to a party of two, 600 feet 
in length ; to a party of three, 800 feet in length ; to a party of 
four, 1000 feet in length ; to a party of more than four, ordinary 
sized claims only. 

New strata of auriferous gravel in a locality where claims are 
abandoned, or dry diggings discovered in the vicinity of bar 
diggings, or vice versa, shall be deemed new mines. 

Rights and Duties of Miners. 

Entries of grants for placer mining must be renewed and 
entry fee paid every year. 

No miner shall receive more than one claim in the same local- 
ity, but may hold any number of claims by purchase, and any 
number of miners may unite to work their claims in common, 
provided an agreement be duly registered and a registration fee 
of $5 be duly paid therefor. 

Claims may be mortgaged or disposed of, provided such dis- 
posal be registered and a registration fee of $2 be paid therefor. 

Although miners shall have exclusive right of entry upon 
their claims for the " miner-like " working of them, holders of 
adjacent claims shall be granted such right of entry thereon as 
may seem reasonable to the superintendent of mines. 

Each miner shall be entitled to so much of the water not pre- 
viously appropriated flowing through or past his claim as the 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 407 

superintendent of mines shall deem necessary to work it, and 
shall be entitled to drain his own claim free of charge. 

Claims remaining unworked on working days for seventy-two 
hours are deemed abandoned, unless sickness or other reason- 
able cause is shown, or unless the grantee is absent on leave. 

For the convenience of miners on back claims, on benches or 
slopes, permission may be granted by the superintendent of 
mines to tunnel through claims fronting on water courses. 

In case of the death of a miner, the provisions of abandon- 
ment do not apply during his last illness or after his decease. 

Acquisition of Mining Locations. 

Marking of locations — Wooden posts, four inches square, 
driven eighteen inches into the ground and projecting eighteen 
inches above it, must mark the four corners of a location. In 
rocky ground stone mounds three feet in diameter may be piled 
about the post. In timbered land well-blazed lines must join 
the posts. In rolling or uneven localities flattened posts must 
be placed at intervals along the lines to mark them, so that sub- 
sequent explorers shall have no trouble in tracing such lines. 

When locations are bounded by lines running north and south, 
east and west, the stake at the northeast corner shall be marked 
by a cutting instrument or by colored chalk, " M. L. No. i" 
(mining location, stake number i). Likewise the southeasterly 
stake shall be marked " M. L. No. 2," the southwesterly " M.L. 
No. 3" and the northwesterly " M. L. No. 4." Where the 
boundary lines do not run north and south, east and west, the 
northerly stake shall be marked 1, the easterly 2, the southerly 
3 and the westerly 4. On each post shall be marked also the 
claimant's initials and the distance to the next post. 

Application and affidavit of discoverer — Within sixty days 
after marking his location the claimant shall file in the office of 



408 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

the dominion land office for the district a formal declaration, 
sworn to before the land agent, describing as nearly as may be 
the locality and dimensions of the location. With such declara- 
tion he must pay the agent an entry fee of $ 5 . 

Receipt issued to discoverer — Upon such payment the agent 
shall grant a receipt authorizing the claimant, or his legal repre- 
sentative, to enter into possession, subject to renewal every year 
for five years, provided that in these five years $100 shall be ex- 
pended on the claim in actual mining operations. A detailed 
statement of such expenditure must also be filed with the agent 
of Dominion lands, in the form of an affidavit corroborated by two 
reliable and disinterested witnesses. 

Annual renewal of location certificate — Upon payment of the 
$5 fee therefor a receipt shall be issued entitling the claimant to 
hold the location for another year. 

Rules for Partnerships. 

Working in partnership — Any party of four or less neighbor- 
ing miners, within three months after entering, may, upon being 
authorized by the agent, make upon any one of such locations, 
during the first and second years, but not subsequently, the ex- 
penditure otherwise required on each of the locations. An 
agreement, however, accompanied by a fee of $5, must be filed 
with the agent. Provided, however, that the expenditure made 
upon any one location shall not be applicable in any manner or 
for any purpose to any other location. 

Purchase of location — At any time before the expiration of 
five years from date of entry a claimant may purchase a location 
upon filing with the agent proof that he has expended $500 in 
actual mining operations on the claim and complied with all 
other prescribed regulations. The price of a mining location 
shall be $5 per acre, cash. 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 



409 



On making an application to purchase, the claimant must 
deposit with the agent $50, to be deemed as payment to the 
government for the survey of his location. On receipt of plans 




IN THE HANDS OF A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 

and field notes, and approval by the surveyor general, a patent 
shall issue to the claimant. 

Reversion of title — Failure of a claimant to prove within each 
year the expenditure prescribed, or failure to pay the agent the 



410 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

full cash price, shall cause the claimant's right to lapse and the 
location to revert to the crown, along with the improvements 
upon it. 

Rival claimants — When two or more persons claim the same 
location, the right to acquire it shall be in him who can prove he 
was the first to discover the mineral deposit involved, and to take 
possession in the prescribed manner. Priority of discovery alone, 
however, shall not give the right to acquire. A subsequent dis- 
coverer, who has complied with other prescribed conditions, shall 
take precedence over a prior discoverer who has failed so to comply. 

When a claimant has in bad faith used the prior discovery of 
another and has fraudulently affirmed that he made independent 
discovery and demarcation, he shall, apart from other legal con- 
sequences, have no claim, forfeit his deposit and be absolutely 
debarred from obtaining another location. 

Rival applicants — Where there are two or more applicants for 
a mining location, neither of whom is the original discoverer, the 
Minister of the Interior may invite competitive tenders or put it 
up for public auction, as he sees fit. 

Transfer of Mining Rights. 

Assignment of right to purchase — An assignment of the right 
to purchase a location shall be indorsed on the back of the 
receipt or certificate of assignment, and execution thereof 
witnessed by two disinterested witnesses. Upon the deposit of 
such receipt in the office of the land agent, accompanied by a 
registration fee of $2, the agent shall give the assignee a certifi- 
cate entitling him to all the rights of the original discoverer. By 
complying with the prescribed regulations such assignee becomes 
entitled to purchase the location. 

Regulations in respect to placer mining, so far as they relate 
to entries, entry fees, assignments, marking of locations, agents' 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 411 

receipts, etc., except where otherwise provided, apply also to 
quartz mining. 

Nature and size of claims — A location shall not exceed the 
following dimensions: Length, 1500 feet; breadth, 600 feet. 
The surface boundaries shall be from straight parallel lines, and 
its boundaries beneath the surface the planes of these lines. 

Limit to number of locations — Not more than one mining 
location shall be granted to any one individual claimant upon 
the same lode or vein. 

Mill sites — Land used for milling purposes may be applied 
for and patented, either in connection with or separate from a 
mining location, and may be held in addition to a mining loca- 
tion, provided such additional land shall in no case exceed five 

acres. 

General Provisions. 

Decision of disputes — The Superintendent of Mines shall have 
power to hear and determine all disputes in regard to mining 
property arising within his district, subject to appeal by either of 
the parties to the commissioner of dominion lands. 

Leave of absence — Each holder of a mining location shall be 
entitled to be absent and suspend work on his diggings during 
the " close" season, which " close" season shall be declared by 
the agent in each district, under instructions from the minister of 
the interior. 

The agent may grant a leave of absence pending the decision 
of any dispute before him. 

Any miner is entitled to a year's leave of absence upon prov- 
ing expenditure of not less than $200 without any reasonable 
return of gold. 

The time occupied by a locator in going to and returning from 
the office of the agent or of the superintendent of mines shall 
not count against him. 



412 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

Additional locations — The minister of the interior may grant 
to a person actually developing a location an adjoining location 
equal Jn size, provided it be shown to the minister's satisfaction 
that the vein being worked will probably extend beyond the 
boundaries of the original location. 

Forfeiture — In event of the breach of the regulations, a right 
or grant shall be absolutely forfeited, and the offending party 
shall be incapable of subsequently acquiring similar rights except 
by special permission of the minister of the interior. 

Trouble Over Mining Laws. 

It was natural to expect that in a mining region so remote 
from districts in which there was an established order of affairs, 
in two countries between which there was a boundary line dis- 
pute of long standing — and in governments, or nominal govern- 
ments, laws in unsettled regions are bound to be more or less 
dead letters — where mining was done under different systems of 
regulations and requirements, there should be more or less 
jealousy, friction and trouble. 

Those who predicted a clash — and there were many such on 
the first news of the discovery of gold in the Klondike wilds 
reaching southern cities — were not disappointed. 

Differences did arise almost immediately. These were due 
partly to a misunderstanding or an ignoring of the existing 
mining laws and partly to the greed of Great Britain in seeking 
to make a rich thing of the find by imposing exactions on the 
miners who crossed the real or alleged boundary line and staked 
off claims on the territory claimed by Canada. 

The Canadian government lost no time in taking official action 
and there was a prospect of international hostilities. 

On July 30, 1897, the Dominion Cabinet reached an important 
decision as to the imposition of a tax in the Yukon district on all 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 413 

American miners. This perhaps is best told in a telegraphic 
report from Ottawa, which was sent out at the time. Says this 
report : 

" Under the regulations recently issued the fee for registering 
a claim was fixed at $15, while an annual assessment of $100 
was to be paid by the holder. Now, in addition to this, a 
royalty of 10 per cent, will be levied upon the output of all 
claims yielding $500 and under to each claim, and 20 per cent, 
upon each claim yielding over that amount. 

"Among those posted the opinion is freely expressed that it 
will be impossible to so supervise the output of these thousands 
of individual claims as to collect royalty upon the exact yield. 
Another obstacle is the fact that the mines all lie within a com- 
paratively short distance of the boundaries. There is nothing to 
prevent the miner from carrying the bulk of his gold dust, on 
the quiet, down the river to the boundary line, and once in 
American territory he is out of the jurisdiction of the Canadian 
tax collector. 

Reservation of Grounds. 

" In addition to the royalty every alternate claim in all placer 
grounds is to be reserved as the property of the government. 
These government reserves are to be sold or worked by the 
government for the benefit of the revenue of the Dominion. 
This is considered a startling departure from all the traditions of 
placer mining the world over. 

"Two customs officers will be dispatched to a point near 
Lake Tagish, where all goods sent in by the Taiya route (Chil- 
koot Pass) can be intercepted. At this point also a strong 
mounted police post will be erected, and the strength of the 
Yukon police will be augumented by an additional detachment 
of eighty men. Small police posts will be established about 
fifty miles apart up to Fort Selkirk. These will serve as stations 



414 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

for the dog trains carrying mails, and also for the relief of such 
travelers as may make the journey overland during the winter. 

" There will be established a regular monthly mail service 
between Taiya and Fort Selkirk. The government has also 
determined to test the feasibility of connecting Dawson City 
with Taiya by means of a telegraph line. Should it be found 
impracticable to construct an ordinary overhead system a species 
of land cable may be employed to convey the wire laid on the 
surface. 

" In the meantime the survey for a route overland from Taiya 
will be pushed, and upon the surveyors' report will depend the 
carrying out of the proposal of constructing a wagon road 
through the country at least to the head of uninterrupted navi- 
gation on the Yukon R.iver. Diplomatic communication will be 
entered into with the United States authorities for the purpose of 
establishing a modus vivendi so as to give the Canadian Govern- 
ment the right of way through the country." 

The miners summarily condemned the action of the Dominion 
Cabinet and rose up almost to a man against the payment of the 
tax. They denounced the step as rank robbery and declared 
that the Dominion officers would have a high time in collecting 
the monies levied. 

Much indignation was aroused not less in the press than 
among the public, as the following newspaper comments show : 

Press Is Indignant. 

Bulletin : Canada cannot very well hold on to all the gold in 
the Klondike, but the Dominion Government will put a royalty 
on claims and gather in as large a share as possible. Let the 
Dominion statesmen go on if they think there is no such thing 
as manifest destiny. 

Evening Report : The news about the imposition of a mining 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 415 

tax by the Canadian Government suggests that a war vessel be 
sent to Dawson City without loss of time. 

Chronicle: The Dominion Government has thrown fairness 
and caution to the winds and gone to the unexpected length of 
imposing a royalty on all placer diggings on the Yukon, besides 
a $ l S registration fee and $100 annual assessment. The royalty 
named is io per cent, on claims with an output of $500 or less 
monthly, and 20 per cent, on every claim yielding above that 
amount. Additionally, the government will reserve every alter- 
nate claim in any new gold district that may be found, and will 
impose a heavy tariff upon all goods coming in from the Ameri- 
can side. 

With the latter proviso we do not, of course, find fault, but 
the proceeding as a whole shows an intent to keep American 
miners out of the field in which they were pioneers and where 
they have uncovered the richest finds. 

The Canadian government, however, apparently meant busi- 
ness, and it proceeded to cloister the tax it had imposed with a 
certain amount of terror in the way of penalties. According to 
the amended regulations issued, any miner who defrauds the 
government will be made liable to the confiscation of his claim 
and the withdrawal of his right to have any holding in the 
future. The penalty for the trespassing clause reads as follows : 

Penalties are Imposed. 

" Entry shall only be granted for alternate claims, the other 
alternate claims being reserved for the crown, to be disposed of 
at public auction or in such manner as may be decided by the 
Minister of the Interior. The penalty for trespassing upon a 
claim reserved for the crown shall be the immediate cancellation 
by the gold commissioner of any entry the trespasser may have 
obtained for a mining claim, and the refusal of the acceptance of 



416 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 



any application which the trespasser may at any time make for a 
claim. In addition to such penalty the mounted police, upon 




LYNCH LAW IN KLONDIKE. 

requisition from the gold commissioner, shall take necessary steps 
to eject the trespasser." 

A scheme was likewise devised by the Canadians to prevent or 
limit the flow of gold to this country. This move also met the 
bitterest opposition, from the fact that a large percentage of the 
miners in the Klondike district were Americans who went there, 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 417 

braving perils and hardships, on a mere chance of making for- 
tunes, and who resented being taxed for the privilege in the first 
place, and, in the second place, having restrictions placed upon 
them as to the disposition of their finds. 

The scheme was devised by Captain Strickland. Following 
is a report of his plan : 

" Captain Strickland said the plan which he has already sug- 
gested, and which the Dominion government was inclined to favor, 
provided they had a large enough police force to be assured of carry- 
ing it out, was to pass a law prohibiting the export of gold except 
by Dominion officials. The gold dust brought in by the miners 
of all nationalities would be carefully weighed by officials of the 
Canadian government. A fixed value would be placed on the 
metal, according to assayers' estimates, and this value would be 
paid in money of only local value." 

Klondike a Free Country. 

In official circles in the United States the manifestos of Canada 
were deemed " amusing literature." Said one of the leading 
officials of the State Department at the time : 

" The gold fields are free to all. Of course it is possible for 
Great Britain to pass an alien law which would keep citizens of 
the United States out of the new gold fields, but the result would 
be that it would keep their own people out as well, for, while it 
is true that the fields already explored seem to be on Canadian 
territory, they cannot be reached at all except by passing through 
the American territory of Alaska. It is well nigh impossible to 
make the journey overland from British Columbia to Forty-Mile 
Creek or any of the headwaters of the Yukon. It is necessary 
to go through Alaska to get to the gold fields, and the gold 
which is taken from there must go through Alaska to get to 
civilization. 
27 



418 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

"The Canadians have been talking of establishing custom 
houses to levy some kind of a toll on the importation of supplies. 
There has been no talk of any prohibition of mining by Ameri- 
can citizens, for if that were done all we would have to do would 
be to prevent the transit of Canadian miners across our territory, 
and thereupon the gold fields would have to be abandoned. 

" Up to the present time no mortal man can say exactly where 
the boundary line between the American and the British posess- 
ions runs. The meridian fixed by the treaty has not been deter- 
mined astronomically. The preliminary surveys show that the 
new gold fields are on Canadian soil, but the margin is so slight 
that neither government would care to assert authority where 
there is nothing to be gained by it. The miners themselves have 
established a local government, as is the case in all mining fields, 
but when the proper time comes the British Government, which 
is the best equipped in the world for looking after far-away de- 
pendencies, will take care of its own. American miners can go 
there without fear of interference on the part of Canada, but the 
information in our possession goes to show that many of those 
who do go will never return, for a famine in the Yukon country 
during the long winter season seems to be almost inevitable." 

John Sherman Talks. 

In the matter of an alien law, Secretary of State, John Sher- 
man made the following statement : 

" We have an alien law of our own. We have never enforced 
it against gold miners. Canadian citizens have been free to 
come into the United States and mine for gold under the same 
terms that our own citizens did. There has never been any 
friction over the matter. 

" Where a man has taken up a land claim for the purpose of 
residence and cultivation we have always insisted that he be a 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 419 

citizen. The same has been done under the Canadian Govern- 
ment. 

" Where a man has simply prospected for gold with the 
intention of digging into the ground a little ways and taking 
what he could find from land against which there was already 
no claim, he has never been interferred with on our side of the 
boundary. I do not think that the Canadian Government will 
change that course of procedure. If they do it may lead to 
fully as much embarrassment to them as to our miners. 

Through Clinched Teeth. 

Canadians, however, continued to talk through clinched teeth, 
and, on an intimation being made that the United States would 
look out for the interests of its citizens, spoke with satisfaction 
of the policy of backing up the Dominion's claims with guns. 

u It is hardly necessary," says the Toronto World, " to reply 
to the threats of Americans in the matter. The government of 
Canada has already made its reply, and that reply is based on 
action, not on words. A large force of mounted police and two 
Maxim guns are now on the way to the Klondike country, and 
if the miners whom the United States journals are inciting to 
revolt only make the attempt, they will perhaps meet with a 
reception warmer than they anticipated. 

" Surely it is time that the people of this country, and espe- 
cially the party in power, began to consider the relations of 
Canada with the United States from an entirely new standpoint. 
Hitherto the Liberal party has regarded this people as a friendly 
neighbor, from whom Canadians might expect fair treatment, at 
the least, while our habit has been to yield to them over much, 
and rather to supplicate such treatment from them than demand 
it as of right." 

The United States government meant to stand by its word and 



420 RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 

protect its people, though. There was a call for troops, and on 
July 26, 1897, the following telegram was sent: 

" Washington, D. C, July 26, 1897. — Shafter, Commanding 
Department of California : Can you spare a full company of in- 
fantry for the establishment of a post at Circle City this season 
for the protection of American interests ? Men may be selected 
for duty from various commands. Answer immediately. 

" Alger, Secretary." 

General Shafter answered in the affirmative, and as a result of 
orders Captain Patrick Henry Ray, Eighth United States Infantry, 
stationed at Cheyenne, Wyo., was instructed to take a detach- 
ment of troops to the Yukon district. The troops sailed from 
Seattle — six officers and fifty-six men— on August 5th, by way 
of St, Michael's for Circle City, and the thousands who were on 
their way or who intended to go to the gold fields had the assur- 
ance that they and their interests would be protected. 

Limited Size of Claims. 

Early in August of 1897, too, the Canadian government took 
a new tack in the matter of mining regulations by restricting the 
size of claims that would be allowed. Instead of allowing 500 
feet, as the regular law provided, the Dominion decided that it 
would fix the limit at 100 feet. This decision was made on 
August 9th, to go into effect immediately. This was designed to 
revolutionize the old plan of operations, which is thus described 
by Thomas Cook, an old miner who spent years in the region : 

" In Canada the placer mines are, as a matter of course, close 
to the water and every man when he makes his prospect is 
allowed to stake off about what he considers 500 feet on each 
side of the place up and down the river. That gives him the 
width of his claim 1 000 feet, and this width extends from the river 
back to the foot of the mountain, whether it is a canon or a plain. 



RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 421 

" Then he puts up his stake and the government surveyor 
comes along and sets off the 500 feet each way exactly. Every 
man must pay a license of $ 1 5 a year and he must put in three 
months' work on the claim during the year. If the work is not 
done, there are plenty of men ready to report him and take the 
claim. 

"Americans like the Canadian laws better than the laws of the 
United States, because they know their claims are better pro- 
tected, and there is no claim-jumping so long as a man abides 
by the laws. The government follows up the miners by build- 
ing roads. I don't want to say anything against our own laws, 
for I am an American, but it is a fact that we get better protec- 
tion and the government takes more interest in helping the 
miners along in Canada." 

The new mining enactment passed by the Dominion expressly 
forbids the "grub-staking" of prospectors or prospecting by 
proxy. In the future if any man wants a lawful share of the 
riches of the Klondike region he must work with pick, shovel 
and gold pan. 

Slap at the United States. 

The law, it was said, is clearly a slap at the United States. 
It is intended to restrict the immigration of American miners. 
By the provisions of the act it is unlawful for any person or cor- 
poration to prepay transportation " or in any way assist or 
encourage the importation or immigration of any foreigner or 
alien into Canada." 

All such contracts are declared void and unlawful, and the 
penalty attached is $1000 for each and every offense, and all 
parties to the contract are individually liable. 

The " exemptions " from the act include nearly all classes of 
labor except mining and prospecting. Informers are to receive 
50 per cent, of the penalties collected. 



CHAPTER XV. 
Gold Crazes of Other Days. 

Mining Excitements in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay the 
Old World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America — Early- 
Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — "Pike's Peak or Bust" — 
Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp Craze — Rush 
to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone — Placers in Baja, Cali- 
fornia — Harqua Hala Diggings — Randsburgand Its Boom — Comparisons 
with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes Cost in Cash and Life. 

FROM the far-away days of the Scriptural land of Havilah, 
the world has been subject to going crazy over discoveries 
of gold. A large part of history is a record of events for 
which gold has been more or less directly responsible. Most of 
the wars of invasion have been waged to gain gold, or its equiv- 
alent in transmutable form. Gold lured the Spaniards to the 
Antilles and the Englishman to Virginia. Lust for gold cost the 
Aztecs an empire and enslaved the Incas. Gold hunters gave 
Australia and New Zealand and South Africa to civilization. Gold 
has never had but one rival as a civilizer — religion — and, to pro- 
duce a stampede, not even plague or famine ever equalled it. 

Though Australia and South Africa had some gold excite- 
ments which laid the Old World well under tribute for the bravest 
and sturdiest, as well as the greediest of its population. America, 
and especially the United States, has had more gold fevers and 
had them harder than any other region on the globe. There was 
as much of a craze as the new country could stand, probably, 
when gold was discovered in the Carolinas, when the nation was 
a youngster, and there were some other relatively minor outbreaks 
of the auriferous malady in other sections early in the century; 
but it was not until the war with Mexico had given both the 
opportunity and the hardy men to take advantage of it, by stimu 

422 



GOLD GRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 423 

l.iting the spirit of Western exploration, that America began in 
real earnest to show of what it was capable when the gold fever 
"struck in." 

California, Pike's Peak, Washoe, Salmon River, Frazer River, 
Montana, Black Hills, Leadville, Tombstone, Kootenai, Cariboo, 
Randsburg, Alaska — every one a stampede. Gold has made no 
other history like it. Monte Christo was a poor fellow in com- 
parison with the heroes of those stampedes ; Opher and Gal- 
conda were poor " streaks " beside the treasure houses in the 
mountains of those days ; and Mungo Park and Rider Haggard 
prosy tellers of true stories, beside the masters of golden fiction, 
that America produced or imported during the latter half of the 
nineteenth century. 

When the gold fields of California were discovered in the 
" days of '49," the eastern half of the continent began to depopu- 
late itself at a rate which brought a new State into the Union in 
three years. The news of Major Sutter's wonderful strike in the 
Sacramento sands crossed the ocean and European adventurers 
joined in the rush to the Pacific slope. 

Perils of '49. 

Yet it was no child's pastime, that journey to the golden val- 
leys of the Sierras nearly fifty years ago. Two thousand miles 
of wilderness, partly a desert of perils, partly stern mountain 
chains, bleak and impassable, had to be traversed and almost 
every foot of the way was beset by blood-thirsty Indians or 
marauding white renegades. Or else the argonaut risked the 
hazards of the sea and either crossed the Isthmus of Panama and 
dared its deadly fever, which too often undermined his health 
for all time, or spent six months or a year in the monotonous 
voyage " around the Horn." Anyway he went, it cost time and 
money unstinted to reach the land of gold. And when they got 



424 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

there they were out of the world. Everybody else was across 
the mountains or the sea, mails were few, expensive and uncer- 
tain, and it sometimes cost the total proceeds of a day's hard 
work in the placer and took a year's time to get a letter to the 
old home " in the States " and an answer from the dear ones 
back again. 

"This Alaska is a regular parlor game to what we had to 
undergo in '49 and the early '50's," was how President Addison 
Ballard, of the Forty-niners Association in Chicago put it. 
" Cold ! why we had to cross mountain tops that were covered 
with ice and snow as cold as any ever produced in Alaska. We 
had not only that to contend with, but also the blazing heat of 
the tropics, the thousand and one dangers and trials of the plains, 
the sufferings and privations of the most barren and sterile 
and forbidding deserts ever crossed by man. Savage beasts and 
still more savage men besetting every mile of our way and that 
way was a trail across trackless plains through a country un- 
developed, unopened and unknown. 

Only Locomotive a Mule. 

"All of this had to be contended against at a time when the 
resources of civilization were comparatively primitive. We had 
no railroads then, our only train was the prairie schooner, our 
only locomotive a mule team or a span of oxen. We had no 
tinned meats, condensed milks or preserved fruits in those days ; 
we had to do with the roughest food, sometimes furnished by 
our rifles, and oftentimes that in scanty quantities. Then there 
was the sickening, saddening oppressive sensation of being cut 
off from the rest of the world and the possibility of never being 
again brought in touch with home and friends and civilization." 

George W. Custer, Auditor of the Board of Education, Chi- 
cago, another '49er, who went overland in 1850, remembered 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 425 

the hardships well enough to shudder as he talked of them. He 
said : 

"It was the fourth day of April, 1850, that my father 
made up his mind to go to the California gold fields, and 
started with his family across the country to where we were told 
men could dig up nuggets with their heels right out of the soft 
surface mold all over the peninsula of California. I shall never 
forget our experiences on that trip. Hundreds of people started 
out without sufficient money or provisions, and as a result they 
perished of hunger and thirst on the great American desert of 
the Salt Lake district, through which their path lay. 

Fourth of July in the Desert. 

" Our family formed a portion of the caravan known as the 
Patterson Rangers. It was composed of twelve wagons, forty- 
seven men and a boy (myself). We ate dinner on the Fourth 
of July, 1850, right in the heart of the desert, and on that 
evening we practically ran out of provisions. It was the poorest 
Fourth of July dinner I ever remember to have eaten. I 
remember it well. We each had a small piece of smoked meat 
and a biscuit. My father, who had smuggled a small jar cf 
sweet jelly with him, smeared a little of it over my dry biscuit 
in honor of the occasion. 

" Our trail was littered with the remains of other caravans of 
pioneers who had preceded us across the deadly waste. The 
skeletons of men and animals dotted both sides of the trail, and 
wagon wheels, old arms, rusty swords, broken rifles and other 
relics of the victims of that terrible summer were lying around 
in profusion. The value of the material that lay there decaying 
on the desert would, I believe, if fairly computed, run up into 
the hundreds of thousands of dollars." 

And these were not even fair samples of the experiences cf 



426 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

hardship and peril of the California argonauts. Yet the craze 
lasted and men by the thousand kept rushing West by land and 
sea to the placers of the Pacific slope. 

Then the Australian gold fever came on in 185 1 and 1852, and 
right on top of that the Colorado discoveries — " Pike's Peak or 
Bust " — and it seemed for a time as if all the civilized world 
that was not already at the mines was pushing and crowding to 
get there. Stories of disappointments and disasters to those 
who had "gone in" did not deter those who were going; it 
was according to the ethics of gold hunting that bad luck was 
individual and good luck only was " catching/' And so they 
rushed in, and where one " struck it rich " nine " went broke." 
The world had seen nothing like it since the Crusades. 

The Rocky Belle Craze. 

Arizona supplied some good samples of the gold fever in the 
seventies. Probably the wildest and craziest stampede ever 
known in the Southwest was that to the Rocky Belle Camp in 
Northern Arizona, in the region of the Moqui Indian reservation, 
in December, 1874. The region is 8000 feet above the sea level 
and lies among snow-clad mountains. It was an unusually cold 
winter when the news went abroad that Hank Binford and his 
companion had struck a whole mountain of gold rock that as- 
sayed over $900 to the ton. 

A week more and over 2000 miners from every part of Arizona 
and Southern California were moving day and night, scarcely 
stopping for food and sleep, toward the Rocky Belle Camp. 
Hundreds of men traveled 700 and 800 miles on foot and with 
mules and donkeys to the new diggings, and nearly all traveled 
across desert and mountain for a distance of 250 to 300 miles. 
As the multitude journeyed on, the report of the riches of Hank 
Binford's find grew until it seemed as if wagon loads of rich gold 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 427 

ore awaited the travelers. Merchants and professional men in 
Maricopa and Tucson, and that part of Southern Arizona became 
imbued with the spirit of the miners, and, turning their business 
over to others, joined in the movement on Rocky Belle. 

The hardships that the fortune seekers suffered in the moun- 
tains will never be fully known. A large number of men coming 
out of the warm, balmy air of the semi-tropic valleys lost their 
lives among the snowbanks and ice in the mountains, and many 
a man was made an invalid for life because of exposure to the 
biting cold during the stampede. A severe blizzard raged in 
the mountains for several days while the miners were slowly 
trudging through them. In one party of over ioo men from 
New Mexico, four men were frozen to death one morning, and it 
is thought that fully twenty more died in the same way in the 
mountains at that time. To this day there are in California and 
Arizona gray-haired miners who lack a finger, a toe, or an ear, 
lost in the terrible cold of that stampede. 

When the last of the Rocky Belle diggings were reached it 
was soon seen that there was no ore in the district worth the 
digging except in the claims held by Hank Binford and his 
friends, and that the reports of their find had been exaggerated 
beyond all reason. Binford's own mine petered out a year or 
two later, and he got only a few thousand dollars from it. 

Stevens Starts a Stampede. 

Along in the summer of 1878 a miner named Stevens wrote 
to a friend in Phoenix that he had found a claim that beat any- 
thing in mining outside of the Comstock lode in Nevada, and 
that with a common iron mortar and pestle he had pounded out 
from $70 to $100 worth of gold dust a day. The claim was 
located 120 miles northeast from Kingman, near the since 
famous Harqua Hala mining region, and there was a chance, 



428 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

so Stevens wrote, for other men to strike it rich up there. 

Of course, such news could not be kept quiet. It traveled 
with miraculous speed through every camp in the Salt River 
valley and over to Prescott. In less than two weeks all that 
part of Arizona was deeply stirred by the reports, which no one 
seemed to have time tc investigate, of the richness of the mines 
that Stevens had" found. A thousand or more miners caught the 
fever so badly that they started on foot across the country for 
Stevens' camp without delay. It was a hot, dry summer and 
the journey entailed several weeks of severe physical labor, tor- 
turing thirsts and the endurance of a temperature that usually 
stood over 110 degrees in the shade. A dozen men died from 
fever and in wild delirium under that awful sky, and as many 
more miners never recovered from disorders caused by the pri- 
vations of that stampede across the desert of Arizona. 

Having arrived at the Stevens' camp the excited men realized 
that there were claims worth working by about ioo men. Sev- 
eral hundred claims were staked out in less than a day after the 
excited miners got to the scene, but in a fortnight the camp 
population fell from 1200 to less than 400. In a month more 
about 100 persons were left to do all the mining. The camp 
was abandoned entirely ten years ago. 

Mad Rush to Tombstone. 

With the possible exception of the rush to the Leadville mining 
district in Colorado, there has been none anywhere in forty years 
attended with excitement that followed the news of the finding 
of great deposits of gold and silver in Tombstone in 1879. 
Miners from every part of the Pacific coast caught the fever for 
gold, and as week after week samples of the Tombstone rock 
were more widely circulated, and rumors went forth concerning 
the fortune this or that man or company was getting out of the 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 429 

hills and mountains about the new camp, thousands started for 
Tombstone. 

Hundreds of young men and youths in the older States were 
wild with zeal to hasten to the new Eldorado and started across 
the continent with little or no preparation. In less than four 
months after Gird and the Hawkinses began getting several 
thousand dollars a day from their mines, there were over 6000 
persons in the camp, and several months later Tombstone had a 
population of over 10,000 men and 200 women. There never was 
another camp in the Southwest like that at Tombstone in 1879 
and 1880. Indeed, there have been very few similar communi- 
ties in the world. 

Wealth and Death Indiscriminately. 

For over seven months the daily output of precious metal 
averaged about $50,000. Over a dozen men went there penni- 
less and came away worth over $500,000 in less than a year, 
and six or seven men struck it rich and sold out for over 
$1,000,000 each. Fully half the population walked hundreds of 
miles to get there. No railroad ran through Southern Arizona 
in those days, and the awful Colorado and Mojave desserts had 
to be crossed in wagons or on foot by the multitudes of fortune 
seekers from California. Desert sandstorms were encountered 
and for days travelers to Tombstone endured a temperature of 
over 130 degrees in the shade. Many a man died on the hot, 
sandy plains. Miners on their way to the new camp from the 
East and South toiled across the Arizona alkali plains through 
immense cactus areas, and risked their lives in the then hostile 
land of the Apache Indians. But hardship, pain, suffering and 
risk of life were all secondary to an early arrival in Tombstone 
and the location of a mining claim. 

When Tombstone was reached there were new privations and 
more physical distress, for the greater number, especially for 



430 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

those who had hastened from offices, stores, shops, clerkships and 
the pastor's study. Over one-third of the men in camp had 
very little money, or none at all, and knew no way of earning it 
except by the hardest kind of manual labor, to which they were 
unused. It cost |ia night to sleep in a dirty, rough pine bunk. 
Water sold at 20 cents a gallon, a small dish of beans at 50 
cents, tallow candles at 2 bits (25 cents), common overalls at 
$5 each, smoked hams at $12 each, and cowhide boots were 
disposed of as fast as they could be hauled to camp across the 
desert from Los Angeles and Yuma for $35 a pair. It was a 
ground-hog case with these commodities for the first ten months 
of Tombstone — take them at the price asked or go without. 

Placer Mines in Lower California. 

In the last ten years there have been four or five stampedes to 
mining camps in the Southwest. In the middle of the winter of 
1890 California, as far north as San Francisco and Arizona, as 
far east as Prescott and Phoenix, were stirred up as they had not 
been for several years by the news that rich placer mines had 
been found by Mexicans in Lower California, seventy miles south 
of San Diego. That was one of the most spontaneous stam- 
pedes known in that region. 

Samples of the pay dirt were sent to San Diego to be analyzed 
one Sunday afternoon. The assayer found it would run over 
$400 to the ton. Somehow the secret got out and was tele- 
graphed up the Pacific coast. The telegraph operators in San 
Francisco spent the next two days and nights in sending and 
receiving messages about the new diggings. Before Thursday 
morning 6000 to 7000 men and youths were on their way by cars, 
wagons, horses, coasting vessels and foot, to San Diego and Lower 
California. The hardware stores in Los Angeles and San Diego, 
and in every village for 100 miles around, sold every pickax, 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 431 

shovel, tin dripping pan, wash dish and milk and bread pan they 
had on hand to persons who equipped themselves for placer 
mining and started in a day for the mines. 

The boom had a short life and almost died a-borning. For a 
week little was talked of in the California cities but the discovery 
of gold in Baja, California, and the prospect of another edition 
of the days of '49. Then, when the first victims of the fever 
who had been down to the mines returned to San Diego, declar- 
ing the stories of wealth there to be lies, and the excitement 
only a manufactured imitation of the genuine article, the old 
miners who had not time to get out shook their heads at the 
other fellows and said, " I told you so." 

Harqua Hala Diggings. 

Thousands of people will never forget the rush for the Harqua 
Hala diggings in the spring of 1892. The mines were found 
in the Northwestern part of Arizona, close to the Colorado 
River and the boundary lines between Arizona, California and 
Nevada. For several months in the winter of 1891—92 there 
came almost every week news of the big prospects that a half 
dozen miners, who had been moving from one camp to another 
in the territories, and in Mexico, for nearly a generation, had at 
last come across at Harqua Hala. Along in March and April 
quantities of gold dust and nuggets from the mines came into 
the hands of bankers in San Bernardino and Los Angeles. 

Newspapers published reports as to the prospects at Harqua 
Hala, and in a week or two there was another general rush for 
the diggings. The railroads did a land office business for several 
weeks in carrying men as far as the Colorado River. From there 
the travelers to Harqua Hala packed themselves on little river 
steamboats at exorbitant rates of travel. Hundreds of miners 
who had hardly a dollar tramped over the mountains 1 50 and 



432 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

200 miles to the mines. And then they all tramped back again, 
wiser and poorer. 

And then there was Randsburg — that little cluster of claims 
and grog shops that sprang into existence in the heart of a Cali- 
fornia desert on the strength of bags of specimens flashed by a 
few highly-imaginative prospectors. There is no denying there 
is gold and a good deal of it in the vicinity of Randsburg — but 
it is a good plan to stop the denying right there. 

In a general way Randsburg was a forerunner of the Klondike 
afLir. As soon as the newspapers gave up their columns and 
pages to stories and illustrations, everyone who could make or 
scrape together the necessary sum to reach the mines got a 
prospector's outfit and marched for Randsburg. Some stayed 
there and some came back to civilization to tell of what they 
didn't earn. Those who stayed, as a rule, went to work for the 
syndicates that practically control the claims. If anyone is 
making money out of these diggings, it is the syndicate in 
charge. So far as the lone prospector is concerned, he is a dead 
one. He may pan out enough to keep body and soul together 
and lend strength to his thirst for conquest, but there he stops. 

Randsburg and Klondike Contrasted. 

Something else there is about Randsburg that may have a 
bearing on the Alaskan fever. It is regarding the personality of 
the army of prospectors. Frequently the characteristics of a few 
daring individual spirits lend a color to an entire community. 
The news of the Randsburg Eldorado had hardly been taken 
from the ticker when the gambling element, which had been 
browsing about the State in an aimless sort of fashion, determined 
to introduce the illusive, yet seductive, pea, monte, the wheel and 
any number of other devices for the purpose of separating the 
curious from their good money. In addition to all this, ther^ 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 433 

was a flourishing dance hall, roof garden, and all-around vaude- 
ville show, so dear to the early novels of Bret Harte. The few 
cents the sydicate didn't get away from the pick-and-shovel brig- 
ade floated into the pockets of the " sure -thing " men before pay 
day entered on its second childhood. 

Randsburg and Klondike tales and events have much in com- 
mon. The stories of the rivers, hills and valleys of gold have 
already been told and set the blood of the imaginative tenderfoot 
boiling. Horses, lots and even personal effects have been dis- 
posed of on all sides at a great sacrifice for the purpose of ob- 
taining the wherewithal to reach the Eldorado of the pole. Some 
have already started on their perilous journey ; others are about 
to hurl themselves into the Klondike maelstrom, and yet a third 
class are still looking about them in search of an opportunity to 
join hands with their brethren and one or two of the sisters who 
are braving the tortures of a polar winter in the mad hunt for 
fortune. 

Some Tough Characters. 

A number of the dispatches and all the statements issued by 
the Alaska Commercial Company and other transportation con- 
cerns have been to the effect that the people going north are all 
good, square, honest and upright miners. They have said noth- 
ing about the sure-thing men, the army of thugs, ex-prize 
fighters and general disturbers who are turning heaven and earth 
to reach the Klondike. Yet such is the actual state of affairs. 
There is a brigade of muscular young men who have drifted to 
the coast since the revival of pugilism. These fellows would 
sooner go to jail than work at any honest trade or occupation. 
It is almost an impossibility to get them to train for a go in their 
dearly beloved prize ring. Yet there is nothing they won't do, 
outside of work, to get hold of a piece of money. The sandbag 
is their favorite method. 
28 



434 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

These gentlemen are all going to Alaska. On the surface 
they are sincere in their claims that they are going to work. 
And they will work if they can find the gold lying on the bank 
of a babbling brook. The actual state of affairs in a nutshell is 
this : These fellows will take any chance under the sun to get 
money. They will stop at nothing. A man's life is no more to 
them than a snowflake to a storm. If things come their way 
they will, within certain limits, conduct themselves in accordance 
with the law, but as soon as they see they are " up against it " 
they will cast reserve and all scruples to the winds and begin 
tearing things wide open. 

Honesty Versus Starving Idleness. 

Just think of the number of people who have already gone 
and those who are determined to go to the Klondike who have 
nothing more than the mere price of getting there ! Now you 
can take it for granted that these men are, as a rule, good, 
honest fellows, willing to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay 
and take a chance of striking it rich on the side. But it is not 
every man who can remain good, honest and square under cer- 
tain conditions. These men have gone and are going to Alaska 
under a delusion. They imagine they are going to get #15 a 
day whether school keeps or not. Naturally $15 a day looks 
like a great deal of money to men who have been making $2 
and 13 a day. And so it is. But you do not actually get the 
$15, or anything like a tenth part of it, for an average day's 
work under the most favorable conditions in the Klondike. Of 
course you maybe handed the $15, or its equivalent, on the 
completion of a day's labor, but how about the expense of living ? 
If you get #15 a day for your work you may rest assured that 
$14 of it will go for board and lodging, and as a rule you board 
and lodge with the man or syndicate for whom you work. 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 435 

Then there is another important factor to be taken into con- 
sideration which has been given the general overlook in the 
newspapers. A man does not and, in fact, cannot, even under 
the most favorable conditions, work the entire year round. There 
are months when you are compelled to remain indoors, rolled in 
skin? if you are fortunate enough to have them, with nothing to 
eat but a bit of dried bacon, providing you are sufficiently 
wealthy to be able to afford this luxury. So you see a man who 
is not his own boss runs an excellent chance of working a season 
and winding up the year by being over head and heels in debt to 
his employer. 

The gold stories from Alaska are by no means new. Some 
years ago there was a general exodus to the Yukon. The 
small army who went northward at that time have not yet 
returned laden down with yellow metal. A few fortunate ones 
have come back with a fair return for their labor and a library 
of romance that puts the professional writer of fiction to the 
blush. But what has become of the 2000 or 3000 who went up 
at the same time and practically have not been heard of since ? 
How about those private graveyards in the ice fields and the 
unfortunates who will never return to tell the tale of hardship 
and suffering that accompanies an Alaskan winter ? 

In a way, the fever of '49 has a bearing on the fever of '97. 
The pioneer days of California form a basis of comparisons and 
enable 'those who will to draw conclusions. 

Has Faith in Prospectors. 

Hear the Argonaut Auditor Custer again : 

" These Alaska prospectors are doing better than the ^ers 
did. I notice that those who have gone to the front are telling 
the truth and not seeding back exaggerated reports, or painting 
the roseate pictures that the first of the California pioneers made 



436 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

in the first flush of the western gold find. It was the false re- 
ports made by some of the early California gold hunters that led 
so many people unprepared into the western wilds, and filled the 
great plains with the bones of unfortunate immigrants. The 
people are now being warned of the hardships and privations 
which await them in their quest for fortune, and of the means 
with which they must be provided to overcome them. 

" Our party made no money in California, and came back in a 
year. Two thousand others did the same. Of course, thousands 
made their pile, though tens of thousands were disappointed. 
But that came from expecting too much. I don't think that will 
be the case with the JAlaska gold campaign. The boys who 
have gone out first are apparently moderate in their statements, 
and I believe it will prove a great place for hardy and adventur- 
ous men to seek fortune and find it. The California gold fever 
did much to open up and build up this country, and I believe the 
Alaska gold fields will also be a great benefit to this country and 
its people." 

" Go to Alaska, Young Man." 

President Addison Ballard felt like Mr. Custer, only more so. 

" This Alaska gold discovery is great," he said. " I don't be- 
lieve there is any great exaggeration in the stories told. I am 
not surprised at all at them, for I have always held that along 
that vein of territory clear to the North Pole the earth is full of the 
precious yellow metal, and not only of gold, but of silver, copper 
and other metals of value. Why, if I was a young man to-day, 
I would be off to Alaska just as quick as I could get my kit to- 
gether. I wouldn't stay around this town one minute longer 
than it would take me to get my tools and other necessaries in 
shape for transportation." 

Mr. Ballard's hair is white as befits a man who went " over- 
land " forty-eight years ago, but his eye sparkled with the argo- 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 437 

naut spirit, and he looked like a second Jason setting out for the 
fleece as he spoke. 

" I'll tell you that the man who loafs around here in Chicago 
out of work, flat broke or toiling for starvation wages these 
days is a pesky fool," he continued. " Of course, I would not 
advise men in very poor circumstances and with large families 
to take care of, to rush off there unprovided and expect to pick 
the gold up in handfuls right off the face of the earth. We 
didn't pick it up in nuggets out of the dust at our feet in Cali- 
fornia. You don't get gold anywhere without you work for it, 
and the gold hunters of Alaska, as well as those of California, 
will have to dig for it if they are to get it. The men who go up 
there in those regions after wealth and fortune could not do 
better than to bear in mind the little ditty so often sung by the 
California gold miner: 

"They told us of the heaps of dust, 

And the lumps so mighty big ; 
But they never said a single word 

How hard it was to dig. 

Easy to Get There. 

" Now, what is the case with this Alaska business ? Why, 
they have the railroad trains to carry them right to the very 
foot hills where the precious metal lies concealed. They have a 
country thoroughly explored, the geography of it thoroughly 
understood and comparatively quick means of communication. 
I tell you the pioneer of Alaska will be a featherbed pioneer 
compared to the old forty-niner, when the history of both comes 
to be told. And yet, if it was all to be done over again, not all 
the dangers and discomforts of the ' overland route,' the horrors 
of the sea voyage and the ' weathering of the Horn,' the fever 
of the Panama, the hunger and thirst of the desert would deter 
me from starting once again. 



438 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 

" No ; I wouldn't be deterred by any little hardships sueh as 
they are talking about in connection with this Alaska business, 
and while it can never confer the lasting benefits upon the coun- 
try that the pioneers of California did, for it was the pioneer of 
the diggings who opened up the far West and brought State after 
State into the Union till it reached from ocean to ocean. The 
Alaska gold find will, in my opinion, be a good thing for the 
whole country and enrich great numbers of our citizens. 
" Ho for California, 

That's the land for me ; 
Away to Sacramento, 

With my washbowl on my knee." 

Fruit Belt Versus Arctic. 

Yet it may be well to remember that in the days of the rush 
to the gold fields of California, it was almost impossible to get 
the worst of a venture to that part of the Pacific coast. Star- 
vation was almost out of the question, save in the northern and 
mountainous districts, and a comfortable bed could always be 
found on the hillside of the land of eternal summer. There 
were no huge ice and snow fields practically destitute of bird 
and beast. On the contrary, there were streams full of fish, 
anxious to be caught, and forests inhabited by flocks of birds 
that have since acquired reputations for high prices in city eating 
houses. Again, the argonauts of California and Nevada were 
almost exclusively hard headed, painstaking and sober minded 
men, who were willing to brave hardships and privations pro- 
viding they ultimately obtained independence for their pains. 

There are a great many people woefully ignorant of the true 
condition of affairs in the Alaskan country. Even among the 
enthusiasts will be found few, if any, who are conversant with 
the subject in general, let alone in detail. The greater number 
of men who have already started for the Yukon, and the vast 



GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 439 

army who are ready to march forward at a moment's notice, 
know nothing about the actual condition of affairs. For them 
this book is published. 

The Black Hills. 

The rush to the Black Hills of Dakota differed from some 
others in that the primary placers gave place quickly to lode 
mining, and the perils from climate and human enemies were 
minimized from the start. Gold was discovered in 1874 and the 
great stampede to the diggings began to culminate in 1875. The 
auriferous land was on an Indian reservation, and United States 
soldiers protected the white trespassers and throttled the remon- 
strant redskins until the United States government made a forced 
purchase of the territory, and the miners thenceforward had 
things their own way. 

The ores of the Black Hills are refractory and it required much 
capital to develop the mines. Mills began to spring up in 1876, 
and to-day the Homestake Company controls 580 stamps in this 
rich district. The total stamps running, number 685. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Side=Lights. 

Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via Baloon 
— Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock in Dogs — Chop- 
ping Wood to Pay Passage — Grab-stakers and " Angels" — Schemes of 
Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as Gold-finders — Mining Stocks 
and Sharpers — Magic in the Name — Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the 
Yukon — Samples of Argonauts — Freaks of " Tenderfeet " — Bogus 
Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a 
Miner's Paper. 

THOUGH there is a dark side to the Klondike craze, sil- 
houetted in blasted hopes, physical misery, wrecked for- 
tunes and even death, there is a humorous side as well, 
rather grim at times and often having the comedy, trenching 
perilously close on tragedy, but still pregnant with a realizing 
sense of the grotesque, and apt to jar a smile out of the most 
disagreeable situations. A siege of the gold fever offers un- 
limited opportunity for the display of idiosyncracies, and what 
passes for humor in new societies is most often only the discov- 
ery of unexpected traits in the hap-hazard assemblage. The 
experiences of a mining craze are prolific of the absurd and the 
ridiculous, — the craze itself has a humorous phase in that it is a 
craze, and the gay recklessness with which men chase golden 
phantoms is only the absurd antithesis to the faith in human 
gullibility with which schemers bait hooks for gumptionless 
suckers and play and land their foolish prey. 

The Klondike craze, both in and out of the diggings, has run 
the gaunt of the jester's part. Sometimes in its brief duration it 
has been a question who were the crazier, those who rushed to 
the placers or those who stayed behind to laugh at the reckless 
argonauts. Some of the queer features of the '97 fever are 

440 



SIDE-LIGHTS. 441 

worth recording for the digest of human nature there is in them 
— " What fools these mortals be ! " 

A Kalamazoo man announced his intention of establishing: a 
balloon route to the Klondike. When the air was full of hor- 
rowing stories of the awful perils of the passes and the " sure 
death " which lurked in the maelstrom-like rapids and the bleak 
and ice-locked marches of the river trail, he came to the rescue 
with a rose-hued story of and air-ship he was building, which 
would sail over anything, carry a ton of supplies and make the 
trip to the gold fields and back in a fortnight. People wrote to 
him from all over the nation to secure passage, offering ridicu- 
lously large sums for even a " berth in the steerage, " One 
Illinois man (perhaps forgetting for a moment he lived in the 
sucker State), sent a draft for $500 for a round trip ticket. To 
the credit of the air-ship navigator, be it said, he returned the 
draft to the sender. 

The balloonist announced at the outset that he could take 
only two men besides himself and that the party intended to stay 
in the Klondike only long enough to locate two or three million- 
dollar claims and then scud home to the celery town to spend 
the winter. Like Orpheus C. Kerr's famous machine-gun which 
would have killed a thousand men a minute if the crank would 
have turned, there was only one defect in the Kalamazoo air- 
ship — it would not sail, and the great trans-continental air-line 

was never opened. 

Bicycles for Argonauts. 

Some New Yorkers figured out a scheme for taking their 
party into the Klondike on bicycles. Every detail of the 
machines was thoughtfully considered and worked out. So 
successful was it considered the " bike " route was sure to be, 
that a syndicate was formed to manufacture the special wheels 
for the market, and the promoters declared the day of Indian 



442 SIDE-LIGHTS. 

packers, burros, clogs and reindeers was waned almost to sun- 
set. The wheel was designed especially for use via the Chilkoot 
Pass, though it was likely to prove as useful by any other land 
route. The prospectus said : 

" Every miner who goes to the gold fields must take with him 
about iooo pounds of supplies, and the only way to transport 
them is for him to carry them on his back. The most that a 
man can carry for any distance is 200 pounds. The method 
now in vogue is to carry one load about five miles, hide it so that 
it will not be destroyed by animals, and then go back for another 
load. In this tedious way the goods are finally transported to 
their destination. 

Style of the Wheel. 

" The Klondike bicycle is specially designed to carry freight, 
and is in reality a four-wheeled vehicle and a bicycle combined. 
It is built very strongly and weighs about fifty pounds. The 
tires are of solid rubber one and a half inches in diameter. The 
frame is the ordinary diamond, of steel tubing, built, however, 
more for strength than appearance, and wound with rawhide, 
shrunk on, to enable the miners to handle it with comfort in low 
temperatures. From each side of the top bar two arms of steel 
project, each arm carrying a smaller wheel, about fourteen inches 
in diameter, which, when not in use, can be folded up inside the 
diamond frame. 

" Devices for packing large quantities of material are attached 
to the handle bars and rear forks, and the machine, it is esti- 
mated, will carry 500 pounds. 

" The plan is to load it with half the miner's equipment, drag it 
on four wheels ten miles or so. Then the rider will fold up the 
side wheels, ride it back as a bicycle, and bring on the rest of 
the load." 

At last accounts no one had gone to Dawson City by bicycle. 



SIDE-LIGHTS. 443 

The s/ndicate had overlooked the one thing besides a good 
wheel necessary to successful country riding — good roads. 
General Coxey had never been to Alaska. 

A sledge and boat company exploited a sectional steel vessel, 
which was to serve the double purpose of water craft and land 
conveyance. Oars and sails would propel it in the water, while 
on land the argonauts would pull it along easily after a couple of 
plates at the sides were let down so as to form a flat surface 
under the keel. It was to be fitted with air chambers and burg- 
lar-proof compartments for storing the precious gold dust. This 
transportation scheme, needless to say, fell flat. 

Stock in Dogs. 

Hearing there was a scarcity of dogs in Alaska, a kennel 
owner tried to organize a stock company to furnish a supply of 
canine draft animals. The fact that such dogs as could be fur- 
nished from the States would be valueless in Alaska, for sledge 
drawing did not worry the brainy fancier at all, if, indeed, he 
ever thought of it. But others thought of it, and the company 
was never formed. 

The North American Transportation and Trading Company 
offered miners a way of getting into the Klondike, which beat 
the balloon and "bike" and other easy modes of transportation, 
though there was an arduous side to it which kept many from 
taking advantage. The company needed wood in readiness for 
its Yukon steamers, as soon as ice goes out in the spring and 
navigation opens ; and it proposed to pay each passenger whom 
it transported as far as Hamilton's Landing, four dollars a cord 
for chopping wood during the eight winter months, the scene of 
activity to be between the Landing and Fort Yukon. It was 
estimated a good chopper could get up three cords of spruce or 
hemlock a day in the Alaska climate, which would enable the 



444 SIDE-LIGHTS. 

prospector to reach the Klondike with a comfortable " stake " in 
his pocket and his muscles seasoned for the hard labor of hunting 
for " pay dirt." 

Grub-stakers proved one of the most ample crops of the 
craze. They sprung up everywhere, and all they wanted was 
an " angel." A grub-staker is a man who wants somebody to 
stake him with grub, and "grub" is Klondike for beans, bacon 
and tea. An "angel" is one who advances, loans, or in any 
manner puts money in the hands of the grub-staker. The grub- 
stakers were all willing to go to the Klondike and endure hard- 
ships and face death and locate a million-and-a-half dollar gold 
mine, if somebody would advance the money for the grub and 
the transportation. Then the "angel," when the mine was 
located, would reap the reward of his childlike trust and implicit 
faith, for, by mining law, the " angel " receives one-half of all 
the grub-staked one discovers. 

Grub-stakers haunted railroad and steamship offices in the 
great centres and in the ports of the coast, and offered every 
man with money who could not go himself, a chance to go by 
proxy, and, astonishing as it may seem, many an " angel" let 
go of his savings to send to the diggings a man without creden- 
tials or residence, and whose very name was often suggestive of 
the probability that neither man nor money would ever be heard 
of again. 

Schemes of Prospectors. 

An Eastern argonaut, who was awaiting " steamer day " in 
Seattle, wrote home of his experience with grub-stakers in these 
words : 

" Broken down prospectors, who have been unable to make a 
strike in the West, offer their services in trying to find gold for 
other people in Alaska. Few of them pretend to know anything 
about the Yukon country, but they are all sanguine of being able 



SIDE-LIGHTS. 445 

to go direct to the right spot and unearth a valuable placer de- 
posit. The only requisite is clothes, food and money, especially 
the latter. Thus equipped these prospectors will go to the Klon- 
dike and send back at once half the gold they find. Odd tales 
are told about some of these fellows. If reports be true, some 1 
of the grub-stake money finds its way at once into the till o 
the nearest saloon, and the only prospecting done is that entailed 
in a hunt for new innocents. 

" Men who have just come back from the gold fields, as they 
assert, offer bargains in the way of partnerships in claims. They 
proudly exhibit bottles of gold dust in proof of the rich strikes 
they have made, and then name prices which would be ridicu- 
lously cheap for bona fide properties of the kind described. It 
is pretty difficult to trace an Alaska claim at this distance from 
its location, and there is no satisfactory way of establishing its 
existence, dimensions, or worth. When the mining fever is on 
a man, however, he overlooks such minor things as these, and 
jumps in haste to close what he calls a good bargain. He 
doesn't stop to consider the risk he is running, and goes away 
to make room for another customer, who will buy the same claim 
right over again. 

Clairvoyants on Deck. 

Clairvoyants put in their bid to be recognized as factors in the 
Klondike development. Something in the nature of a grub-stake 
company was formed by a number of spiritualists in Chicago and 
an advance agent or prospector sent out to locate the rich claims 
which a well-known " medium" professed to be able to discern 
clairvoyantly across the vast intervening distance. Some of 
these claims were said by the " spirit guides" to be fabulously 
rich and all of them well worth the finding. Maps were drawn 
and explicit directions given and a new field for " prospecting" 
duly opened. 



446 SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Anything with the name " Klondike " on it, especially if it was 
mining stock, was a pretty sure seller after August 1st. All that 
was necessary was that the price should be cheap and terms easy. 
Plenty of shrewd men took early advantage of this and some 
printing presses were kept working overtime getting out the 
prospectuses and certificates for these "mining companies." 
How many were " bitten " by these sharpers and how many 
hundreds of thousands of good money they absorbed will never 
be known, but it is certain that a very small percentage of those 
who invested in Alaska companies will ever see even the " first 
annual report " of the concern's announcing that they must be 
revivified by a ten per cent, assessment or shut up shop. 

Magic in " Klondike." 

The magic word " Klondike " seemed to be ample indorse- 
ment in the estimation of the general public for any kind of an 
Alaskan proposition, no matter how wild or ridiculous its scope. 
Railways running for hundreds of miles over wastes of ice and 
snow were minutely laid out on paper and their earning capacity 
soberly computed by men accredited with the possession of busi- 
ness ability. Electric light plants were advocated for Dawson 
City and similar mining towns. Development of the coal beds 
as fuel for great central depots for piping heat to the gulches to 
thaw the frozen gravel was seriously talked about. Had some 
gold lunatic proposed the sawing of the Alaskan ice into railroad 
ties or telegraph poles for use where timber was scarce, it would 
have caused no more than a ripple of surprise, to judge from the 
bare-brained schemes which really enlisted financial backing. 
Everything was possible in Alaska, according to the promoters. 

One of the oddest things brought to light was an attempt to 
organize a barber's syndicate to invade the upper Yukon country. 
One winter's experience in the Arctic region satisfies nearly 



SIDE-LIGHTS. 447 

every man that it is safer and more comfortable to keep his face 
free from hair. Moisture from the breath freezes mustache and 
beard into cumbersome and dangerous chunks of ice in that cold 
climate, and in trying to remove them pieces of frozen flesh are 
liable to be torn off. Safety lies in clean-shaved faces. Many 
men cannot shave themselves and many of those who can, have 
no razors fit to use. The result is a demand for barbers. 
Knowledge of this led one sanguine young shaver to broach the 
idea of taking a party of brother workmen to the Klondike and 
there was considerable enthusiasm over the scheme. 

An amateur detective set seriously about organizing a stock 
company to send himself and a corps of trained sleuths to the 
Klondike, where he believed there is a rich gold mine in arrest- 
ing many criminals for whose capture large rewards are offered. 
He was morally certain Willie Tascott, and a lot of other badly 
wanted men were there masquerading as miners under the Arctic 
Circle. He regarded the scooping in of these men, and the 
prize money appertaining to them, as a vastly easier and more 
lucrative way of making a fortune than burning down to bed 
rock through eighteen feet of frozen gravel. But the police 
laughed at him. 

Samples of Argonauts. 

How little many would-be argonauts knew of the Klondike, 
or anything connected with it, was illustrated in a New York 
railroad ticket office. A well-dressed man pushed his way 
through the crowd, and throwing a big roll of bills on the coun- 
ter, cried out : 

" Give me a first-class, and a lower berth." 

"Whereto?" 

"Klondike." 

He was indignant when the ticket seller tried to explain that 
sleepers were not run regularly over Chilkoot Pass. 



448 SIDE-LIGHTS. 

A man bought an " outfit " at a Seattle store, and found his 
bill was forty dollars over his funds. 

" Never mind ; I'll pay you at Dawson," he said to the cash- 
ier, and seemed dumbfounded when he learned the clerk was not 
going to the Klondike. 

All sorts of men wanted to do all sorts of things in the dig- 
gings, beside dig for gold. 

One man wanted to practice law at Dawson, or any other 
place on the Yukon, and wanted the agent's advise as to the 
size of library he had best take along. His feelings were hurt 
when he was told a hot milk route would probably pay better. 

Another advertised for parties to form a company to send a 
stock of "ladies' and gents'" ready-made garments to the 
Alaskan gold fields. The venture may be a success if the sup- 
plies are limited to those for men, as " ladies " who are among 
the best people of the Alaskan wilds, show a preference for 
white bearskins and walrus oil overknit wear. 

Women at the Camps. 

Another season may change this, however, for there is a chance 
that women with white skins of their own will be much in 
evidence in the camps in 1898. Several promoters have already 
arranged to establish matrimonial agencies in the Klondike. 
One of them says : 

" Thousands of poor but thoroughly respectable girls even in 
this State are looking for honest employment, and would go to 
Alaska to get it if they were assured they would be properly 
cared for. In the towns and villages of New England the 
number of women is so far in excess of the men and employ- 
ment so hard to get that thousands would be willing to go to 
Alaska under proper conditions. I propose to secure places in 
advance for companies of, say, 100 girls, and have their 



SIDE-LIGHTS. 449 

employers advance money for their transportation from the 
States and recompense me for my trouble besides. No girls 
will be accepted except such as can bring the highest recom- 
mendations as to character and respectability. Arriving at the 
gold district each one will be assigned to her place, but all will 
be located within a short distance of each other, so that they may 
have association and be able to counsel each other.. Under their 
influence the camp would take on a homelike appearance, and 
the miners would not feel that sense of isolation which sends so 
many to their graves. They would be served with well-cooked 
food, and the general health of the camp would be vastly 
improved." 

Charlotte Smith, the Eastern sociologist, wants to transplant 
4000 or more working women from sweatshops and factories to 
Klondike camps. Hers is not a money-making scheme — she is 
laboring solely in what she thinks the best interests of humanity. 
Transportation from a life of drudgery, with a bare pittance in 
the way of wages, to homes in Alaska would, in Miss Smith's 
opinion, be a blessing which thousands of women would be 
glad to embrace. 

Bogus Employment Bureaus. 

Employment bureaus to engage miners to work in the Klon- 
dike made their appearance with the first signs of the craze. 
Several of them flourished in the coast cities for some time, and 
the proprietors accumulated quite a fund from gullible and impe- 
cunious victims of the fever before the police swooped down and 
arrested the sharpers. 

Some of the miners coming back with a " pile " had as hard 
a time to keep their gold from the sharpers as the tenderfeet had 
to keep their greenbacks. 

Shortly after the arrival of the last ship from Alaska at San 
29 



450 SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Francisco a number of the Yukoners had a reunion at a private 
hotel on California street hill. There was everything on hand 
to make the function pleasant, and the evening passed rapidly. 
Then there was an adjournment to a music hall on the edge of 
the "tenderloin," and there was more of the wine, women and 
song business. The Yukoners found that whisky at ten cents a 
glass was a more potent liquor than they had met even at Forty- 
Mile. 

There was no limit to the orders, for the men were in for a 
good time. Some of them, with considerable foresight, placed 
their sacks in the safe of the saloon. When they did this they 
had more confidence in the integrity of the strong box than in 
their own capacity for liquids, but their confidence was misplaced, 
according to reports. One of the party, who was at one time a 
leader of the Yukon pioneers, deposited a sack containing $400 in 
the safe. When he called for it he found that some one else had 
broken into the safe and had taken one-half of the stuff that was 
in the receptacle. One man lost, according to his statement, 
$214, and his companion about $ 100. The party broke up about 
the time the cars began to run in the morning, and when the 
sacks were demanded there was a scene. 

Accused of Robbery. 

This was nothing, however, to what occurred the night follow- 
ing the orgie. Those who lost their money met in the refreshment 
room of the hotel in which they were staying, and each ac- 
cused the other of being accessory to the robbery. Had it not 
been for the intervention of several policemen, called by the 
proprietor, there might have been several owners of rich claims 
lying on the slabs of the morgue the next morning. 

Gamblers reaped a harvest in the coast cities as long as miners 
were returning with their dust. Gaming was the only pastime 



SIDE-LIGHTS. 451 

at the diggings and it was easy for the card sharps to find and 
fleece their victims among the home-coming argonauts. Play 
had been relatively as high as fair on the Yukon and before the 
pioneer discovered he was made a victim, he had generally been 
well "plucked." The supply of these easily duped miners ran 
out after a time, however, and then the professional gamblers 
started for the fountain head at Dawson City. It speaks well 
for the caliber of the '97ers that while many of the blackleg 
fraternity undoubtedly got through the outposts, many more 
were turned back on their journey to the mines with some short, 
stern advice not to make another attempt to get in. 

Type of a Miner's Paper. 

One of the oddities of the craze was a little three column- 
folio sheet purporting to be published at Dawson City, and which 
gained much notoriety during its brief day of novelty. The 
Klondike Morning Times may be taken with as many grains of 
salt as the reader may see fit, but, as an antitype of frontier min- 
ing journalism, it is worthy of the days of Bret Harte. 

The editor seems to have started the paper, because he 
needed money. This may be inferred from the subscription 
price, which is announced without any attempt at extenuation as 
$7.50 a single copy or $350,000 a year, payment to be made in 
nickels, nuggets or stamps. Some concessions are made for 
club orders, the editor offering 1,000,000 copies for $30,000. 
The subscriber is advised to read the paper quickly, or he'll not 
believe all there's in it. 

The sensation of the day was a disturbance in the Dirty Dog 
saloon the night before. The editor at once grasped the news 
value of the story, recognizing its " human interest " at a glance. 
He played it under a " scare " head consisting of the expressive 
monosyllable " Biff," followed by three-line pyramids and "cap" 



452 SIDE-LIGHTS. 

lines in which the various features of the story were strikingly 
indexed. 

The story in vernacular is as follows : 

" There was a hot time in the old town last night, as the fre- 
quenters of the Dirty Dog saloon will testify. 

" In the course of a quiet little poker game there was a clash 
between Bonanza Bill, formerly of Circle City, and a half-breed 
Indian known in the diggings as Chilkoot Charley. 

" The stakes were large. Over $2,000,000 in nuggets glit- 
tered on the table when all played dropped out excepting Bill 
and Charley. 

" Charley finally weakened and called his antagonist. 

" Bonanza Bill proudly displayed a pair of fours. 

" ' No good,' said Charley, as he began to rake in the shining 
pot, ' I've got sevens.' 

" ' Stop ! ' roared Bonanza, and with a quick movement he 
seized the cards from Chilkoot Charley's hand. 

" Charley had a pair of deuces only. 

" Piqued at the idea of being played for a good thing by a 
half-breed Indian, Bonanza Bill lost his temper and, seizing a 
cast iron cuspidor, he brought it down upon Charley's head with 
great emphasis. Skull and spit-box were both wrecked by the 
force of the collision. 

" The Indian was buried in a snowbank at the foot of Easy 
Street at 2.30 A. m." 

The prospects of the Dawson City and Elsewhere Railroad 
are flatteringly exploited, and the enterprise and liberality of the 
editor are revealed in a voting contest for the most popular faro 
dealer, the winner to get a free trip to Juneau. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Camp Life and Morals. 

Mining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Communi- 
ties, with such Peculiarities as are Born of Climatic and Topographical 
Features — All Have Their Social Amenities — The Bible and Shakespeare 
Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the Fortune Seekers — Watching of 
Property Early a Necessity — Sharpers Lose no Time in Getting in Their 
Work — Gamblers also Flock Toward the Yukon to Intercept the Return- 
ing Miners and Fleece Them — Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the Wilds. 

THE mining camps of the Yukon Valley resemble the mining 
camps of all other gold diggings the world over, with 
such minor differences as are born of the characteristics 
of the country. Their life is a rude life, a life of hardship, a life 
of temporary expedients, and yet a life that has a bright side for 
every dark side it presents. The Yukon valley is well worthy 
of a Brete Harte to recount its pretty romances, its heroism, its 
humble joys, its pathos and the strong traits of character it 
develops or brings to notice. 

Situated as the camps are, thousands of miles from civiliza- 
tion, it would be strange did their life not present oddities and 
striking features of exceptional interest to new comers. There 
is the absence of conveniences usually to be found in such place ; 
the same tendency to recklessness and improvidence ; the same 
summary execution of unwritten law ; and in fact everything 
that tends to make a mining camp not a town, but a sort of a 
halting place in the wilderness. There is a rough, wild, uneasy 
appearance to the whole company, a something that says, "We 
are here for a purpose, but we will get out of the diggings at no 
distant date." 

Still the life of the mining camps on the Yukon is not as rude or 
as bad as might be supposed, partly from the fact that the 
remoteness of the diggings for a long time kept away dangerous 

453 



454 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

and undesirable characters, and partly from the presence of 
mounted police, who did their best to preserve law and order. 

Dawson City, Circle City, Forty-Mile, Sixty-Mile and all the 
older camps in the region for years after the mining of gold was 
begun, maintained an enviable reputation, and after the discovery 
of gold in the Klondike robbed the older camps of interest and 
brought about a general exodus of the miners to the new 
diggings the same characteristics were preserved. Hence, a 
word descriptive of one of the older camps may be taken as 
fairly true of all the camps in the region. Says a miner writing 

from Dawson City : 

Is a Moral Town. 

" It may be said with absolute truth that Dawson City is one 
of the most moral towns of its kind in the world. There is 
little or no quarreling, and no brawls of any kind, though there 
is considerable drinking and gambling. Every man carries a 
pistol if he wishes to, yet few do, and it is a rare occurrence 
when one is displayed. 

" The principal sport with the mining men is found around the 
gambling table. There they gather after nightfall and play until 
late hours in the morning. They have some big games, too, it 
sometimes costing as much as $50 to draw a card. A game of 
$2000 as the stakes is an ordinary event. But with all that there 
has not been any decided trouble. If a man is fussy and quar- 
relsome he is quietly told to get out of the game, and that is the 
end of it. 

" Many people have an idea that Dawson City is completely 
isolated, and can communicate with the outside world only once 
every twelve months. That is a mistake. Circle City, only a 
few miles away, has a mail once each month, and there we have 
our mail addressed. It is true the cost is pretty high — a dollar 
a letter and two dollars for paper — yet by that expenditure of 



CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 455 

money we are able to keep in direct communication with our 
friends on the outside. 

" In the way of public institutions our camp is at present with- 
out any, but by the next season we will have a church, a music 
hall, schoolhouse and hospital. The last institution will be under 
the direct control of the Sisters of Mercy, who have already been 
stationed for a long time at Circle City and Forty-Mile Camp." 

Have Their Social Amenities. 

It will be seen from this description that, remote from civiliza- 
tion and virtually under the Arctic Circle as they are, the camps 
are not without their social ameneties. Many an interesting 
romance might be written from the experiences of those who 
went to the Territory to seek their fortunes. 

Amusing details are given of the way in which the men spend 
the long nights of the Arctic winter. It must be remembered 
that this means the greatest part of the year. Each claim ex- 
tends only 500 feet up and down the streams — the 500 feet was 
limited by the Dominion government early in August, 1897, to 
100 feet — and the tents or cabins of the miners are thus huddled 
closely together. 

The miners are thus neighbors in propinquity, and the good 
fellowship which usually obtains in such communities make them 
neighbors in every sense of the term. Along the Klondike and 
in all the older camps the men resort to all sorts of games to 
kill time, as they express it, and checkers and cards thus be- 
come favorite pastime with the masses. 

Then, too, remote as they are from current news and recent 
publications, the men, in a sense, keep up their interest in the 
world from which they are severed, and every odd book or old 
newspaper about the diggings goes the rounds and is eagerly 
perused by everybody. It is rather interesting to note that in 



456 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

the mining circles the Bible and Shakespeare are the two books 
most frequently to be seen. 

Nearly every Klondiker on leaving Tacoma or Seattle is said 
to provide himself with a copy of the Bible or a single- volume 
copy of Shakespeare. About the middle of August it was 
reported by the booksellers of Tacoma that there had been such 
a demand for these two books that their supply had been entirely 
exhausted and that they had been obliged to send east by wire 
for a fresh supply to meet the wants of those who started late in 
the season for the diggings. 

A single instance will serve to show the trend of taste in liter- 
ary matters. One party of twelve prospectors and miners from 
Missouri left Tacoma on August 14th and took as part of their 
baggage eight copies of the Bible and twelve copies of Shakespeare. 

Newspapers in Camp. 

Robert Krook, an old miner in the Yukon valley, gives some 
interesting information relative to the popularity of newspapers 
and the general run of the camp life. Said he : 

" No paper is too old to read. We read all the advertisements 
and all the can labels. There was a supply of canned lobsters 
at the camp and some man used to put up with the cans wrap- 
pings of sheets from the Bible. We used to commit the chapters 
to memory and see who could repeat them first without a mistake. 

" The food is neither extra choice nor plentiful. But it is ex- 
pensive. Bacon, ham and beans are the general rule — no 
French wines or champagnes. The supplies are short at best 
and a man must often take bacon that he would not throw to a 
dog or go without. There is usually more whiskey and hard- 
ware on hand than anything else. A man only needs a certain 
amount of hardware, and the less whiskey he can get on with 
the better he is off. 



CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 457 

" Sometimes a man has to watch his supplies pretty close, 
and they usually build a ' cache ' — that is, a little platform set 
high up on light poles. He can then haul up his bacon and 
' grub ' and cover it with a tarpaulin. The risk of leaving the 
' grub ' in the cabin is that the bears get at it. They will even 
tear the roof off to get in, and there are plenty of the animals. 
They won't climb the thin posts, particularly when the bark has 
been peeled off. 

" In regard to clothing, a man does not need much in summer, 
and in winter he studies comfort, not looks. In winter we wear 
moccasins, and in summer, while sluicing, gum boots. I have 
not had leather on my feet since I left. Overalls cost $2.50 in 
Klondike, and everything else in proportion, but it is a great 
country to make money in." 

Strict Discipline Among the Miners. 

Mr. Krook rather insinuated on returning from a protracted 
residence in the valley, that the discovery of gold on the Klon- 
dike had rather tended to demoralize the people and give rise to 
more or less unlawful proceedings. He said, though, that the 
miners were quite competent to adjust all matters of difference, 
and that, as a rule, it was woe betide the man who transgressed 
the laws of the camp. Continuing he said : 

" Until this spring the men never put locks on the doors of 
the cabins, and nothing was stolen. You might go into any 
cabin and see a glass or a tin or two on the shelf full of gold, 
and no one would think of touching it. Anyone could steal if 
he wanted to do so, but there were good reasons why they did 
not. It was only after the mounted police arrived that locks 
and bolts became a necessity. Before that there were what we 
called ' miners' laws. 

" Forty or fifty of the miners would call a meeting, select a 



458 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

chairman, and then if a man could make his own * talk, ' he did 

so, or he would get some one to make it for him. When both 

sides of the case had been heard the chairman would call for a 

vote. The decision was final. 

" If a man gave trouble, he had to go. Now, they do not 

have miners' laws any more. We had no trouble during three 

years, because all questions were settled at these meeting of 

miners. All disputes about claims were argued and adjudicated 

in the same way." 

Sharpers at Their Work. 

As in all mining districts, where great fortunes are apt to be 
made in a few days by a lucky hit, there was early on the Klon- 
dike an element among the people who were unwilling to obey 
either the statutes of the government or the unwritten laws of 
the miners, men who apparently worried their brains to devise 
schemes to get hold of claims, to evade rules and to gain pos- 
session of as large a part of the miners' earnings as they could. 
The miners, however, soon rose up against this element at the dig- 
gings, as they had previously at Dawson City and the older 
camps, and determined that, come what would, order should be 
preserved at all hazards. 

They pointed out with pride that there had been a vast dif- 
ference between the camp life on the Yukon and the camp life 
of the days of '49, the difference being in favor of the days of 
'97. They made a crusade, as strenuously as possible, against 
gambling and the sale of liquor. Of course, it could not be 
expected that drinking and gaming could be entirely prevented. 
But the miners, realizing their own best interests, did good work 
in limiting the evil. 

The United States statutes distinctly prohibit the importation 
of liquor into Alaska for purposes other than for medicine, but 
the law was ignored by those who recognized that there was a 



CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 459 

glorious opportunity for money making in pushing the liquor 
traffic. Thousands of gallons of alcohol, whiskey and brandy 
were landed almost every week at Dyea and other towns, from 
which the stock was transported into the interior. A large share 
of these goods found way directly to the Klondike. 

Whiskey Came High. 

The worst kind of whiskey found ready sale to the Indians at 
three dollars per bottle, and in almost every bay or nook of 
land where Indians lived, were sloops from which whiskey was 
sold in abundance, alike to natives and white men. At Dyea 
and Skaguay, as well as at Juneau, Wrangel, Sitka, and other 
towns, many saloons were run wide open. By a curious contra- 
diction the government issued internal revenue licenses, and at 
the same time prohibited the importation and sale of liquors. 

A word may be said of the ordinary life of one or two of the 
older towns as being characteristic of the country outside of the 
mining camps proper. Sitka, the capital of the Territory, is a 
quaint old place that has never yet worn off the glamor of 
romance and mystery which has hung over it ever since the days of 
Russian occupation. During the whole of 1897, however, the 
pathos and tragedy of romance were entirely subordinated to the 
wild and feverish frenzy after wealth which marked the year after 
the find had been made on the Klondike, and the old town took 
on a briskness and life that it had never known before. 

Of course, Sitka is only an apology for a city, but it does 
have many of the conveniences and comforts to be found in the 
older States. Hence, the prospector or miner going to the Klon- 
dike in a measure gets used gradually to the marked change from 
civilization to the wilds. Henry Ellsworth Haydon has a word 
to say about Sitka which is worth quoting in this connection. 
Says he : 



460 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

" Let me tell of the town as it appeared to me the winter of 
my visit there, with the white Chilkat blanket of the snow spread 
over its shoulders and trailing its fringes in the sea. 

" Fancy a bracket fastened to the front of the mountains with 
its outer edges washed by the estuary of the Pacific Ocean, and 
on the bracket a number of frame buildings of all sorts and 
sizes — perched like birds above high-water mark. On its eastern 
side vast, towering, snow-crowned mountains rise mass on mass, 
precipice above precipice, until their summits seem like the white, 
tapering finger of a giant god, reaching upward to pluck dia- 
mond stars from the ether of the winter skies. 

Exposed to Wind and Storm. 

" Northward, low lying hills stretching in endless companion- 
ship toward the frozen ocean, and across their desolate solitudes 
the wild winds of storms born in the Arctic blow their cold 
breath out over the little city, as if they would fain freeze the in- 
habitants and carry their congealed bodies into the sea. West- 
ward, across Gastineau Channel, Douglas Island, with its famous 
Treadwell mine, and Douglas City, and southward lengthwise ot 
the bay one sees the trembling waters undulate along an ocean 
horizon. 

" Dwellers in cities beyond the eastern slope of the Rocky 
Mountains, who read much and travel little, have formed queer 
and mistaken ideas of the condition of society in places known 
as the mining camps of isolated districts." 

Juneau, from which so many thousands took their way to the 
interior, is younger, sturdier and more enterprising than Sitka, 
and may serve as a sort of transition from the life of Southern 
Alaska to the bona fide camp life of the north. It is one of the 
most cosmopolitan little places, or it was in 1897, under the sun. 

Men winter at Juneau who have wandered through Australian 



CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 461 

forests, prospected Montana, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and 
California ; been tossed about in whaling and sealing vessels on 
the billowy waters of the Arctic seas ; trailed through Asiatic 
deserts, hunted for diamonds in Africa, and among all sorts and 
conditions of people have learned the creed of the wise and 
the brave, to accept the present as the only living time, and await 
with unspoken faith and hope whatever the future may bring 
them. 

They are pleasant to talk with, affable, courteous, intelligent, 
being full of strange stories of camp and field, of quartz mines 
near lonely cabins far up the mountains, and placer " diggins " 
in populous places near to the sea, and all the wonderful romances 
which are part of the adventurer's lot in whatsoever land his tent 
may be pitched. 

Many of these transient pioneers of the primeval solitudes of 
sea and forest stay at Juneau until the April or May days come, 
when they set out to cross the divide and launch themselves in 
frail canoes or on crazy rafts, and go floating down the mountain 
streams to the Yukon River. For the most part, one and all 
have the same purpose. Those of the prospectors, or fortune 
seekers, who have spirit and energy enough to bear up under 
the trials they have to meet, make comparatively jolly parties, 
and as a result life goes on noisily along the trails and in the 
camps as in the older and better known towns that serve as a 
threshold to the country. 

Have a Rude Awakening. 

When once the camps are reached, the real business of the 
pilgrimage to the north begins, and many thousands realize 
shortly that life at the camps is an entirely different matter than 
they had anticipated. The common experience soon settles 
down to a round of duties and efforts ; and the absence of all 



462 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

that the fortune-seekers have been accustomed to, emphasize the 
unpleasant features of the new life. 

There were not lacking, however, early in the days of the 
gold-working enterprising people, who sought to make a good 
thing out of the gold craze, not by mining, but by catering to 
the pleasures of those who delved and washed for the precious 
metal, primitive theatres were started at many of the camps. 
Omer Maris speaks of one of these playhouses at Circle City and 
says that it met a positive want among the people. Says he : 

" The present conception of the popular taste in Alaska seems 
to be that the public wants a strong show, and in the attempt to 
meet the demand the managers cannot find anything up to the 
standard in books and are driven to the point of inviting new 
features. * The Man from Douglass Island ' was an original 
drama that was offered to the people of Juneau. 

Barkeeper Charley. 

" The title had local significance, as Douglass Island is just 
across the channel from the town. It was a very successful 
play. The hero was a barkeeeper named Charley, and the 
heroine, to use the hero's own words, was a ' perfect lady/ who 
had a desire to see something of the town with a fancy, rather 
unusual in a person of that description, for incidentally ' hit- 
ting the pipe.' 

"There was a bootblack, a Chinaman, an Irish policeman, 
a dude and a number of sports and ' ladies ' in the piece. 
After the requisite amount of adversity and bad luck had been 
ground out, the hero, with the help of the bootblack, triumphed 
over the dude, got a ' pull ' with the policeman, married the 
heroine and otherwise attained brilliant success as the proprietor 
of the ' finest joint in the town,' to quote his own language 
again." 



CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 463 

Those familiar with the scenes of revelry and riot in the 
days of the Californian gold fever would look in vain, how- 
ever, along the Yukon and the Klondike for anything similar 
to the playhouses of '49. 

In all the diggings there was, as might be expected, more or 
less lawlessness that could not be suppressed either by the govern- 
ment officials or by the better class of the miners themselves. It 
early became necessary to take positive steps for the protection 
of the miners and their claims. The Dominion Cabinet did 
much to preserve order and prevent anything of an especially 
flagrant kind. 

A detachment of Canadian mounted police, twenty-five in 
number, was stationed at Fort Cudahy, opposite Forty-Mile 
post, and the owners of the mine there applied to Captain Con- 
stantine, in command, for assistance in protecting their property. 

A detachment of twelve men was called out at once and they 
made the trip of seventy miles to the seat of the trouble in the 
shortest time on record. They placed their arms and rations in 
a canoe, put in two or three Indians with poles to guard against 
rocks, and then the twelve men took a line and towed the canoe 
the whole seventy miles. 

It was expected that there would be trouble in dispossessing 
the claimants who caused the trouble, but the Yukon miners are 
a law-abiding lot generally, and at the display of authority they 
submitted and the owners of the mine were given possession. 
As to the original question involved it was soon settled, as the 
owners probably got their legal rights. 

Dawson City sprang up like a mushroom and was one of the 
most thriving of the mining towns until the discovery of gold 
on the Klondike directed attention thither and caused a general 
stampede to the new diggings. Edgar A. Mizner gives us a 
little peep into the life of this town. 



464 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 

When he visited it Dawson had a population of about 4000. 
This was just before the Klondike fever broke out and the men 
hurried away as rapidly as their legs, or the river steamers, or 
horses or dogs and sledges could carry them. Says he of this 
camp : 

"And such a town ! It has some of the characteristics of 
mining camps that Brete Harte has made into story, but it has 
qualities that California camps never had and never could have. 
The game of life is played fast, and the boisterous side of mining 
camps is developing as the population increases. Now Dawson 
would match Tombstone when Tombstone was young. There 
are gamblers by the score, and there are dance halls by the 
score. 

" The principal source of fighting in frontier mining camps, dis- 
putes over the possession of claims, has been missing up to this 
time from the Klondike region. The Canadian mining laws 
seem fair, and they are regarded and are enforced as well as 
possible by the small official force representing the Dominion 
government. A section in the law prohibits a miner from 
'taking up' more than one claim in a neighborhood. This pro- 
vision of law leads to caution in the selection of claims, and 
estops land grabbers from controlling all the claims in sight." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Domestic Life in the Wilds. 

Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the Wilder- 
ness — Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — Tbe Older Towns Anti- 
quated and, during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded — Graphic Pictures of 
Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, and Camp Lake Liuderman — Hotel 
Project for the Territory that Promises to be the Means of Furnishing a 
Larger Quota of Comforts — Women's Influence on the Domestic Life — 
Some of Those Who Grace the Camps with their Presence, and the Par- 
ticular Line of Work to which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of 
Mercy for the Sick and Dying, and Sisters of Cookery for the Well. 

THE domestic life of Alaska is not the domestic life of the 
old, settled communities of the United States, and the 
thousands who flocked to the North, when the Klondike 
fever broke out, had a rude awakening from their dream of a 
merely romantic sojourn in the wilderness. Nor did it require 
an actual residence in the mining camps to force upon the fortune 
seekers the fact that they were entering, not merely a new and 
unknown country, but a new and unknown series of domestic 
experiences. 

Even the oldest of the Alaskan cities — Sitka — is but the veriest 
excuse for a town, despite the fact that its history and its fame 
date from the early days of the Russian occupation. Conse- 
quently, the moment the prospectors and miners set foot on 
Alaskan soil, they found a lack of the conveniences and comforts 
to which they had been accustomed. These did not exist in the 
city, and their absence was accentuated by the feverish rush and 
turmoil that characterized the place. 

It was literally a new era in the history of Sitka, as well as of 
Juneau and the rest of the older towns of the territory. The 
gold craze came in a moment, and there was no opportunity to 
30 465 



466 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

provide for the horde of people who wended their way toward 
the diggings as soon as the news was received in the cities of the 
South. Every available place in the old towns was filled with 
newcomers, and on the outskirts of the cities there were little 
suburbs of tents, which were pitched for the temporary accom- 
modation of the people. 

In the established mining camps like Dawson City, Circle City, 
Sixty-Mile, and Forty-Mile, the state of affairs was not essen- 
tially different for a time. Soon, however, there was a general 
exodus from these towns, and then there were accommodations, 
and to spare. In Klondike itself, as might be supposed, it was 
for a long time a mere matter of the rudest huts, supplemented 
by tents. 

No Place for Style. 

In this world of antiquated or temporary structures, or of no 
structures at all, the domestic arrangements were cast upon just 
such lines as one might look for in an unsettled country. As 
the reader may have gleaned from the preceding pages, it was 
no place for dress suits or train dresses, and those who went to 
the gold fields soon learned that it was no place likewise for the 
conventionalities of ordinary life. Here and there, to be sure, 
was found some one who essayed to put on style. But these 
"fops and frumps " were early taught that they had better cast 
conventionality to the winds, and adopt the rude life, with its 
hearty, whole-souled ways, which obtains in all mining localities. 

A mere word about some of the towns will enable the reader 
to form some idea of the " home " life that necessarily prevailed 
in them. Hal Hoffman, who went to Alaska on a special mis- 
sion, early in August, 1897, wrote as follows of Skaguay : 

" Skaguay is, at this date, a city of eleven frame or log houses, 
a saw-mill, five stores, four saloons a crap game, a faro layout, 
blacksmith shop, five restaurants, which are feeding people all 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 467 

the time, a tailor shop, on which is hung the sign ' bloomers fitted 
for shotguns ; ' a real estate office, two practicing physicians, 
another professional pathfinder whose specialty is shown by the 
sign painted on a board nailed to a tree, ' teeth extracted ; ' some 
300 tents, and a population of about 2000 men and seventeen 
women. Four of the women are accompanying their husbands 
into the Klondike. The others are unchaperoned. 

" A dance hall will be erected next week. Skaguay is already 
a typical mining camp. Its population is proud of it. They go 
further, and say it will be a ' hot town ' next winter. Streets 
have been laid out. Broadway runs from high tide four miles 
back to the mountain base, and is walled with tents, piles of sup- 
plies, and felled trees. The gold-seekers never overlook an 
opportunity to make fun drown their impatience. 

" The event of to-day was a foot race for a purse of twenty- 
five dollars, in which fifty men entered. Lanterns are flickering 
like fireflies among the tents to-night. One turns his glance 
with a shiver from the snow-topped mountains which, half a mile 
from camp, point 4000 feet into the pale night overhead." 

Unique Miners' Meeting. 

" A miners' meeting stands without a parallel among things 
unique. It was recently decided at such a meeting at Circle 
City that a man cannot lick his own dog. What a miners' meet- 
ing says goes. A teamster named Cleveland was run out of 
town two days ago for refusing to haul a corpse free of charge. 
It was the body of young Dwight B. Fowler, who fell into the 
river and was drowned in the clear water in sight of his com- 
panions, owing to the weight of the pack strapped to his back." 

Another writer has the following to say of Dawson City about 
the same time : 

" There are several public resorts in Dawson — each with a bar 



468 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

in front, gambling tables in the rear and a dancing floor in the 

middle. Yukon has struck the typical early mining camp pace. 

Faro and poker are the favorite means for parting with gold dust. 

One hears of games with $20 ante and $50 to call blind. They 

don't have money in circulation. 

"There is no such thing as money. When you go in just 

leave your sack at the bar and say, ' Give me five hundred,' or 

' Give me a thousand,' and get your chips," explained a Yukoner. 

"Then if you lose you can call for what you want, and it's just 

put down, and when you get through they just weigh out what 

you owe. I have seen fellows go in with $50,000 they had 

cleaned up and go out with an empty sack and go to work 

again." 

A Wretched Place. 

Miss Anna Fulcomer, who lived for a year at Circle City before 
seeking the Klondike fields with the rest of the fortune-hunters, 
gives a rather graphic account of the town. Said she, in a letter 
written to her sister in Chicago : 

" This is a wretched place to be side-tracked in. A poor little 
town with few houses, and those for the most part of bad con- 
struction! Not the possibility of going anywhere and getting 
out of sight of the little aggregation of buildings without going 
out into the wilderness away from everybody and everything ! 
To do this requires not a little courage and energy. People here 
are not primarily pleasure seekers. Those who have come here 
have come for business, and this becomes manifest in everything, 
from the way in which they put in their time to the way in which 
they dress and deport themselves. 

" There is no such thing as style. There is little visiting, ex- 
cept to kill time when it is no longer possible to work. You 
must not forget that this is the land of the midnight sun, and that it 
is also the land of the midday moon. Consequently one gets 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 469 

up, works, goes to bed, does everything either by sunlight or by 
moonlight, according to the season of the year, without the 
natural phenomena that in southern latitudes accompany and lend 
a certain character to the duties and pleasures of life. Every- 
thing seems turned about, and one scarcely has the inclination, 
even though he might have the opportunity, to do as they do in 
the old States. 

" What is more, there seems little prospect of any change in 
domestic conditions for the better for many a long day. Even 
though the mining interest keeps up, the influx of people to the 
camps will probably be so largely in excess of the accommoda- 
tions for them, and they will bring with them such a meager 
supply of conveniences and comforts, that the prospect is that 
Dawson City and Circle City will continue to be Dawson City 
and Circle City until capitalists, realizing the necessities of the 
towns, will take steps to provide ampler and better accommoda- 
tions than now exist." 

At Camp Lake Linderman. 

Of the camps proper William J. Jones gives a fair idea. Says 
he of Camp Lake Linderman : 

" From fifty to one hundred white tents, as many camp fires 
and nearly 200 people constitutes the little colony of gold-seek- 
ers who are camped here, building boats and awaiting an oppor- 
tunity to sail down the river. It is remarkable to note the 
difference in the personnel of the men. Only the better and 
more substantial element is able to cope with the hardships and 
reach this far. It would seem that the less persevering, or what 
might more properly be termed the lazier classes, are to be found 
scattered along the trail between Dyea and Sheep Camp, be- 
moaning and bewailing the hardships they are undergoing. 
They are having a picnic if they only realize that much, as com- 



470 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

pared with what they will experience after passing Sheep Camp. 
" There is one saloon at Lake Linderman, and it is doing a 
thriving business in a tent. Without a license or other lawful 
restriction and with the poorest quality of liquor, so diluted as to 
be unrecognizable to the fastidious taste of experienced epicures, 
the proprietor is coining money by selling drinks at 50 cents 
each. A bottle of whiskey is worth $15. As the Indians 
arrive in from the coast with their packs and receive there 
stipends, averaging about $30, they are inveigled into the saloon 
and made drunk. A few drinks and a bottle of vile concoction 
called whiskey, and they are " broke." After sobering up they 
are ready to " hit the trail " and get another pack. Some of the 
nights are made wild and hideous with the orgies of these natives. 

Hotel for Alaska. 

Early in August, 1897, the North American Trading and 
Transportation Company took the very step that Miss Fulcomer 
advocated and perfected a plan for the transportation to Alaska 
of a hotel which would accommodate about 500 people. It was 
the plan to have the frame work sawed, finished, and put in such 
shape as to be ready for erection as soon as the material could 
be transported to the Territory. The decision once made, active 
steps were taken toward carrying out the project. 

The new hotel was designed for Fort Get There, on St. 
Michael's Island. This was nothing but a trading post of the 
company situated about a mile from the town of St. Michael's, 
and only a hundred yards from the canal. At the time the en- 
terprise was planned, and steps were taken to carry it out, there 
were only about twenty white men and probably twice as many 
Indians there. The plan of the hotel resembled a fort, being 
square, with a court in the center and a tower on either corner. 
Speaking of the enterprise, Mr. P. D. Weare said at the time : 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 471 

" A special train of ten cars will convey the hotel furnishings 
and the steamer J. C. Barr, recently purchased at Toledo, to 
Seattle, in time to catch the City of Cleveland, which sails 
September ioth. The J. C. Barr, which is now being taken 
apart preparatory to shipment, is intended for use on the Yukon 
River, and will make the fourth boat the company expects to 
have in operation on the river at the opening of the spring 
season. 

" I do not know how soon we can carry out all our inten- 
tions," continued Mr. Weare, " but we realize the fact that 
domestic life in Alaska is in a large measure a matter of hardship 
and privation, and we know that there ought to be ampler 
accommodations provided for the people. It is not, in that cold 
climate, as it was in California in the days of '49, for there, if the 
miners had not houses, it did not entail suffering or danger to 
camp out with nothing but the sky overhead and a blanket 
wrapped around them. 

" In Alaska one cannot put up with camp fires and such con- 
veniences as can easily be carried about on a pack saddle. It is 
often terribly cold and the miners, in order to survive and keep 
themselves in fit condition to do their work, have to have good 
protection from the inclemencies of the weather. 

Accommodations Not Good. 

" These, it need not be said, do not now exist. Of course, in 
the old towns in Southeastern Alaska, there are a number of 
places where strangers can get fairly good accommodations, but 
these accommodations vanish as soon as one heads his way 
toward the interior. The tramp over the mountains and through 
the valleys, of course, must necessarily be one fraught with all 
the dangers and inconveniences and hardships of a journey in 
the wilderness. But at the present time even in the old mining 



472 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

towns — you will understand I mean by old such places as Daw- 
son City and Circle City — the existing condition of things is 
such that one can scarcely speak of domestic life at all. It is 
simply life without the domestic." 

Yet it was into this wilderness, devoid as it was of most of 
the amenities of civilized life, that scores of women of educa- 
tion and refinement took their way, actuated by various motives. 
Man was not to have the Klondike country to himself. If there 
were no sidewalks and boulevards, no boudoirs or parlors, the 
women meant to go there and share with their husbands and 
brothers and fathers the strange experiences of the mining 
camps. That the news of this exodus of women to the dig- 
gings was cheering news to the miners, needs scarcely to be said. 

Women Off for the Diggings. 

In the middle of August, 1897, an announcement of the 
intention of women to go to the North was made in the follow- 
ing words : 

" Woman's refining hand is to be laid on the camps at Dawson 
City and other Arctic settlements. The home comforts of civil- 
ization are to be introduced in a country in which they have 
been hitherto sadly lacking. This winter will bring a radical 
change in domestic and social conditions in that far-off part of 
the world and enforced seclusion will be relieved of its greatest 
terrors. 

" Eight Illinois women have thus far announced their purpose 
to make the pilgrimage to the gold fields of Alaska, and this 
number is likely to be doubled before the last steamer of the 
season sails from Seattle. Similar reports come from other 
States, so there is a strong certainty that the Klondike district 
is to have an agreeable and useful addition to its present 
population. 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 473 

" Some of these women are the wives of men now in Alaska 
wresting wealth from the frozen earth — these go to make lighter 
for their husbands the hardships of an Arctic winter. Others 
will make the long and dangerous journey to dig gold for them- 
selves, to make money by keeping boarders, by ministering with 
needle and thread to the wants of helpless masculinity — and 
even by running newspapers, in which the lucky strikes, the sad 
failures, social doings, and all the breezy gossip of the camps 
will be duly chronicled. 

" Then there are others — women of mercy — whose sole 
object in braving Arctic perils is to care for the sick and 
afflicted, to nurse back to life and strength the victims of acci- 
dent or disease, and soothe the last moments of those who 
receive the final summons to the great beyond. 

Promise is Fulfilled. 

The promise held forth to the miners of having woman's 
influence in their rude life, was carried out with a fulness they 
little anticipated. Mrs. Caroline Wescott Romney, a Chicago 
woman, early expressed her determination to go to the Klondike 
and pass the winter. It was not her intention to go on a plea- 
sure jaunt, but strictly on a business venture, and on one well 
calculated to make the camp life brighter and better. Her 
main purpose was to start a newspaper at Dawson City, and she 
decided to take with her a complete printing outfit, so that she 
could issue a little sheet and supply the mining community not 
merely with news about local doings, but with reprinted matter, 
which would serve to instruct and amuse the people. 

Mrs. Romney had had a good deal of experience in a similar 
line in Leadville and Durango in the boom days of Colorado. 
She was a strong believer in mines and mining, and, having 
worked with success in this line in Colorado, and also in Mexico, 



474 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

she thought she could enter the Yukon valley and by her enter- 
prise meet a decided want in the domestic life of the community. 
Speaking of her project before she started, she said : 

" Of one thing I am confident, there is gold in plenty in Alaska. 
I believe there is a fortune for me, and I am going to get it or 
know the cause of failure. What is more, I am not going to 
work in the mines, but in the camps and for the benefit of the 
people. I do not think there is any occasion for the lawlessness 
that has characterized almost every mining community on record. 
That sort of thing springs up primarily from the absence of those 
conveniences and comforts that in these days legitimate enter- 
prise could easily supply." 

Mrs. Gage's Enterprise. 

Mention has been made elsewhere in this volume of the enter- 
prise of Mrs. Eli S. Gage, who left her cozy home in Chicago 
and went to the mining region to be with her husband and lend 
what influence she could for the good of the camp life. She 
left Chicago early in the fall of 1 897 and took her way to the 
diggings by way of the Chilkoot Pass. According to the plans 
of Mrs. Gage, as expressed before starting, she intended to keep 
house in Northern Alaska, doing the cooking, washing and other 
forms of housework herself. 

There are no trained servants or domestic help in the Terri- 
tory, and consequently it is a practice of the miners to shift for 
themselves the best way they can. It was Mrs. Gage's opinion, 
which was also shared by the officers of the transportation com- 
pany with which her husband is connected, that the presence of 
herself and other women of good character would have a great 
influence in brightening and making more agreeable the long 
winters of the northern region. 

Mrs. A. W. Little also left her Chicago home and followed the 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 475 

example of Mrs. Gage. She went to Alaska well equipped for 
a winter in which the cold often gets as low as 60 degrees below 
zero. Before starting from her home she had an outfit of dogs 
and sledges prepared and in waiting for her at Dyea, to transport 
her over the snow-clad country to Dawson City. 

Willing to Meet Danger. 

Miss Pauline Kellogg, of Chicago, daughter of Judge Kellogg, 
a pioneer miner of Colorado, and a woman well trained in mining 
life, also went to the diggings in the fall of 1897. Early in her 
life Miss Kellogg had lived in a Rocky Mountain cabin and had 
become proficient in miners' work. She knew exactly what peo- 
ple in a district like the Yukon valley had to experience, and 
had a lively recollection of the hardships imposed by such do- 
mestic life as one has to encounter in camp life. 

"Danger!" said Miss Kellogg, before taking the train from 
Chicago. " Of course there will be danger, but I have been all 
through Colorado when that country was new, and I think I can 
take care' of myself in Alaska. I am not sure that I shall be 
much of a success in the mining role, but I do think I can be of 
a whole of service to the miners, and if I fail in one line I shall 
hope to make it up in another." 

Mrs. William Chase was one of the hundreds to brave the 
perils of the new life to carry something of life and cheerfulness 
into the miners' experiences. She left her Chicago home to 
join her husband on the Yukon and help him and his associates. 
She expressed a determination to keep house, to attend to the 
cooking and other domestic duties herself, and so far as she 
could, to teach and assist the miners and prospectors who had 
no woman's hand to help them to do likewise. 

" In this way," she said, " I can be of more use to them than 
by digging in a pit like a man. What makes life in the Arctic 



476 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 

Circle so hard to bear, I am told, is the absence of home com- 
forts. These I propose'to furnish to as great an extent as possi- 
ble, and it will be much better, even if I am not very successful, 
than to have my husband up there alone. The miners I know 

will welcome me." 

Their Mission of Mercy. 

Mention was briefly made elsewhere of the two Sisters of 
Mercy who, in the early days of the gold craze started for the 
North to minister to those who might need their assistance. 
They started from San Frsncisco for St. Michael's Island, mean- 
ing to push on to the interior by as rapid stages as possible. 
Their avowed intention was to nurse the sick and solace the 
dying in Northern Alaska. They were Sister Mary of the 
Cross and Sister Mary Magdalene of the Sacred Heart. 

In striking contrast to the heavy clothing and big outfits 
of provisions and tools of gold-seekers were the simple black 
habits of the sisters. They had no stores of groceries, no 
supply of furlined garments, no equipment of tools. Two hand 
satchels and a couple of trunks in the steamer's hold contained 
all their worldly goods. When asked if they were not afraid 
to venture into so cold and desolate a country with such a 
scanty outfit, Sister Mary Magdalene said : " The Lord will 
provide. We go to do his work and he will take care of us." 
This simple statement had an impressive effect upon the passen- 
gers and crew, and every man on the boat became a helpful ally 
of the sisters. 

Mrs. Bessie Thomas, of San Francisco, also early left for the 
Klondike fields, but her mission was an entirely different one. 
She did not go to care for the sick and solace the dying, but to 
give the miners and prospectors good, wholesome dinners and 
suppers and keep them well. In other words, Mrs. Thomas in- 
tended to start a restaurant, and while primarily it was a busi- 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 477 

ness venture on her part, it was one that met a crying want of 
the mining camps. 

It can readily be understood that with a meager supply of 
cooking utensils, and no skill in the art of cooking, the majority 
of the miners and prospectors were in rather a bad way in the 
matter of providing their meals. Mrs. Thomas was shrewd 
enough to recognize this and take advantage of the opportunity 
offered her. Further, there was a touch of real philanthropy in 
her project. Before leaving San Francisco Mrs. Thomas said : 

" Miners have got to eat and I think there is more money to 
be made in feeding them than in slaving my life away here. I 
have got to earn my own living, and I do not see why there 
shouldn't be just as good a chance for me in a mining camp as 
there is for a man. There is another side to this matter, too. 
Here I just do my work for the pittance accorded me, and don't 
know I am doing anybody any especial good or myself either. 

" I do know that one of the most important things in a mining 
community is for the men to have good, wholesome meals, 
properly cooked and served. In the diggings, I am told, the 
diet is almost exclusively one of fish and canned goods. A diet 
of this sort becomes very monotonous, and if a few good, whole- 
souled women would go up north and look after the culinary 
end of the camp life, there would be a great sight more happi- 
ness as well as a great deal less disease." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Ethnography. 

Census of Alaska — Russian Estimates of Population — Classification of the 
Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive of Asiatic 
Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned— Chilkats and their 
Traits — Hootzanoos and "Hoochinoo" — The Sitkans and Stickines — 
Among the Aleuts. 

ONE of the most engrossing and perplexing problems of the 
ethnologist is presented by the aboriginal native inhabitants 
of the islands and mainland of Alaska. Many of them 
present characteristics at variance with any prediction of ultimate 
American origin. White people going into the country are apt 
to regard the aborigines as a branch of the great race of North 
American Indians, and that they are called Indians in common 
parlance greatly favors this misconception ; but to the student, 
most of them are absolute and distinct, with not a drop of Ameri- 
can Indian blood in their veins, unless it has come from cross- 
breeding with the red Indians further south. 

The population of Alaska is classified as white, mixed-Indian, 
Indian, Mongolian, and all others. Some figures as to its ex- 
tent are interesting, as serving to correct many commonly held 
mis-opinions on the subject. 

Census of Alaska. 

The United States Census of 1890 was the first organized 
effort to get at the facts of the population of this great territory, 
one-sixth the size of the nation of which it is a part. It showed 
the total of inhabitants, living in 309 settlements, was 32,052, 
of whom 4298 were white; 1823 mixed-Indian; 23,531 Indian; 
and 2288 Mongolian. Of these the Greek Church claimed as 

478 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 479 

converts 10,335, of whom 8414 were natives ; the Presbyterian, 
1334, of whom 1260 were natives; and the Roman Catholic, 
498, the natives numbering 131. This topic is more elaborately 
treated in the chapter on " The Spread of Christianity." 

The efforts of the Czar's officers to obtain a census were crude 
and the results altogether valueless as statistics. Delarof's 
estimate, made in 1792, gave 6510 natives to Kadiak Island 
and the near mainland region. Baranof, in 1796, made the total 
in the same area 6200, but he also reported a probable total of 
5000 Thlinkets, unsubdued and not enumerated. Baron 
Wrangel, in 1825, estimated the total population at 8481. 
Veniaminof made three censuses : in 1831, of the Aleuts, whom 
he numbered at 15 15 ; in 1835, of the Thlinkets, whom he esti- 
mated at 5850 ; and in 1839, of the entire population, which he 
placed at 39,813 ; a remarkably close result when it is under- 
stood that nearly all the statistics of natives were the result of 
what might be called scientific guess-work. In 1 860 the Holy 
Synod made a census of the Christian population of both sexes 
and fixed the total at 9845, exclusive of the Russian employes 
of the company. 

Classification of Indians. 

General Halleck, U. S. A., made an estimate of the inhabi- 
tants in 1868, which was extravagantly wild, even for guess- 
work, the total being put at 82,400, or fully 50,000 too many, 
as shown by the careful enumeration based on actual count in 
the census of 1890. 

Along linguistic lines the Indians of Alaska are divided in the 
elements of stock and strength as follows : 

Esquimeaux, inhabiting the coast from Copper River to the 
northern extremity of the international boundary line. 

Thlinkets, occupying the coast southeast of Copper River, and 



460 ETHNOGRAPHY. 

known variously as Chilkats, Auks, Takus, Hootzanoos (on 
Admiralty Island), Sitkans and Tongass. 

Aleuts, on the Aleutian Islands. 

Athapascans (Tinnehs), living in the interior and known as 
Kutchins and Ingaliks. 

Tsimpseans (of foreign extraction) on Annette Island, princi- 
pal type. 

Skittagans, the Haydas of Prince of Wales Island, principal 
type. 

It will be best to examine these rather in the order of their 
importance than of their strength. 

The Thlinkets. 

Thlinket, the name given to the people by themselves, means 
" the people " and indicates the esteem in which this once 
powerful family was held by its savage tribesmen. These 
aborigines are lighter colored than the North American Indian, 
and in many more important particulars are radically different 
from their red neighbors. 

There are many separate tribes of Thlinkets and, as many 
unreliable traditions of supernatural origin, a deluge and a sole 
surviving couple. Their propitiation of evil spirits, their Sha- 
manism, their belief in the transmigration of souls, their worship- 
ful regard for the spirits and ashes of their ancestors, would 
suggest an Asiatic origin. Their methods, tools and postures 
are Japanese. Their totem poles are like those of the Maoris 
and South Sea Islanders. Their sun and nature worship and 
their legends of the Thunder Bird are Aztec. Totemism is the 
base of their social organization, but the totem pole has no 
religious significance, and is not an object of worship. Its pur- 
pose seems to be purely heraldic. 

A theory which would go far to explain the Asiatic charac- 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 481 

teristics of the Thlinkets and other similar Alaskan peoples, and 
which has found many advocates among scholars is based upon 
the action of the Kuro Siwo, or Japan current, which sweeps 
around through the ocean from the shores of the Chrysan- 
themum Empire and passing to the south of the Aleutian Islands 
washes the northwestern coast of the American continent. It 
has been conjectured that in some remote age Japanese junks 
with their crews, which in ancient times were often composed of 
men and women, were caught in terrific storms and partly 
wrecked, so that return to the home port was impossible ; that 
the disabled hulks, caught in the ever-flowing current, drifted 
helplessly around the circuit of the North Pacific and were 
finally, with the remnants of their ill-starred crews, cast upon 
the shores of the Alaskan Archipelago. Granted that all this 
came to pass, environment would easily account for the differ- 
entiation from the parent Asiatic stock which marks the Alaskan 
Indian of the days of history. 

Famished Japanese Sailor. 

This hypothesis of an Asiatic origin, fanciful as it may seem 
in some ways, is not altogether without the support of facts. 
Within the memory of living men a Japanese junk was cast 
ashore near the mouth of the Columbia River, and from the 
wreck was rescued the sole survivor of its crew, a famished and 
sea-crazed Japanese sailor, who was able to relate before he died 
the story of the awful storm, which drove himself and his com- 
panions into the wilderness of the ocean on which he drifted for 
eight months, his comrades dying one by one along that awful 
unmarked trail through the billows. Perchance, the hardier 
men of another age might have endured such a terrible voyage 
with death and still survived with vigor enough to found a new 
race in a new land. 
31 



482 ETHNOGRAPHY. 

In many ways the Thlinkets strongly resemble the Japanese. 
They have the same small hands and feet and their features are 
much like those of the Mikado's people. Their babies are fat 
and chubby, and were a Thlinket and a Japanese infant to be 
dressed exactly alike and placed side by side it is likely none but 
the mothers could tell certainly which was which merely by look- 
ing. They resemble the Japanese, too, in not being robust and 
in their extreme veneration for old age — wherein they differ much 
from some whites. 

Physically the Thlinkets are magnificent specimens from the 
waist upwards. But they are pigeontoed and bowlegged and as 
awkward as aquatic birds upon the land. This is their heritage 
from generations of canoeing ancestors, whose warped postures 
in their frail, rude boats have thus stamped a trait upon their 
descendants. 

Singular Customs of the Natives. 

Though the Thlinkets are pretty well civilized, they still retain 
traces of their ancient savage customs. Some of the oldest hags 
still wear the laviette, a metal or wooden plug piercing the under 
lip and supposed to enhance the beauty of the wearer. Tatoo- 
ing, once almost universal, has nearly disappeared, but they all 
paint for great dances and " potlatches," and in summer men and 
women daub and blacken their faces as protection against the 
insect pests. Polygamy and polyandry are now practically ex- 
tinct, though both were formerly common. They are super- 
stitious to a degree, and until Captain Merriman, U. S. N., whom 
they called a great " tyee " or king, because of his impartial and 
successful administration of the government, broke the power of 
the shamans, or medicine men, witchcraft and its attendant hor- 
rors were common. Now a witch is never heard of. 

Though strong, the Thlinkets are not a hardy people nor as a 
rule long lived. Consumption is common and generally makes 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 483 

a speedy end of its victims. They are being fast thinned out by 
disease and dissipation. The whites have proved a curse to 
them in both directions. They are great gamblers and a true 
Thlinket will bet everything he owns, from his wives up. They 
drink white man's rum when they can get it, which is not seldom, 
and otherwise their own home-made " hoochinoo." And they go 
on fearful sprees. 

Slavery is another of the ancient customs which has been out- 
grown. Prisoners of war were always made slaves, unless they 
were butchered to make a Thlinket holiday in the days of the 
nation's savagery, and their lot was of the hardest. One of the 
least enjoyable portions of these slaves was to be killed at the 
grave of the master, especially if the latter happened to have 
been a chief. Cannibalism, which was not uncommon among 
the Indians at an early date, is also now happily a thing of the 
past. Akin to this barbarity was the exposure of female infants, 
but this abominable practice has, also been abandoned. 

How Great Events Were Celebrated. 

The " patlatch " is an ancient and honorable custom which has 
passed into innocuous desuetude with most of the Thlinkets. 
Formerly every great event was celebrated with a "patlatch," and 
as the festivity was an expensive one, requiring the utmost lavish- 
ness in entertaining, not only in the distribution of meat and drink, 
but of blankets and other presents, it sometimes made a man poor 
to be rich. Now the ambition of these Indians seems to be to 
live and dress as much like the whites as possible. They retain 
the barbarian's love for gaudy things, however, feathers being 
their especial pride for decoration, and a Thlinket in full dress is 
a gay sight indeed. 

As a people they are brave in a relative sense — that is, they 
can fight like demons when cornered, or when opposed to a 



484 ETHNOGRAPHY. 

weak enemy ; but are not overprone to pick quarrels with those 
stronger than themselves. They are venturesome to reckless- 
ness in their sea voyages, making trips in their small boats which 
would daunt a white man in his larger craft. They have given 
up war, but the old spirit still makes them among the hardiest 
sailors of the Pacific. In manner they are dignified, but cour- 
teous, and they are extremely hospitable. Withal they are great 
sticklers in matters of ceremony, and a fancied slight has been 
known to end in bloodshed. In their habits they are the oppo- 
site of lazy, and nearly all the able-bodied men among the coast 
residents now work in the salmon canneries or salteries, or pur- 
sue hunting and fishing for gain. They have a decided taste to 
get money, and some of them are exceedingly thrifty. Princess 
Thorn, one of their great characters, was a sort of Thlinket 
Hetty Green, and literally had more wealth than she knew what 
to do with, but still was insatiable for more. 

Fondness for Display. 

Though the native religion of the Thlinkets was a kind of 
nature worship, or feeble polytheism, these Indians proved plastic 
material in the hands of the missionaries, and most of the older 
ones are now members of the Russian Greek Church. Their 
great fondness for display is well gratified by the rich robes and 
vestments, the candles and the pictures which enter so largely 
into the service. Most of them speak Russian, and they are all 
familiar with the trader's jargon known as " Chinook." One of 
the results of their religious training by the Russian Fathers has 
been the abandonment of their ancient and almost universal 
burial rite of cremation, the only exceptions to which were the 
Shamans, or medicine men. 

All the Thlinkets are divided into two clans, the Wolf and the 
Raven. A man never marries into his own clan, and the 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 485 

children are always designated as of the mothers clan. Besides 
the distinction of clans there are numerous tribes of Thlinkets. 

The Chilkats and Chilkoots, who are really one tribe, are the 
great people of the Thlinkets. They have always been great 
traders and have possessed more wealth than any other tribe. 
They were opposed to white trade with the Tinnehs, and for fifty 
years stood as a barrier across the passage to the Yukon Basin, 
playing the middleman with the Tinnehs in the fur trade. The 
white men cheated the Chilkats, the Chilkats cheated the 
Tinnehs. Whom the Tinnehs cheated, unless it was the animals 
whose furs they took, is not of record. The Chilkats were good 
warriors as well as thrifty traders until in 1892 the saloon 
invaded their country and rum wrecked the once powerful tribe. 

They are a more than commonly intellectual people. Their 
chief " klohkutz " drew for Professor Davidson the first known 
map of the famous Chilkat and Chilkoot passes. They long 
knew the art of forging copper, and they possess in a high 
degree the art of dyeing. Their elaborate dance robes, made 
from antelope wool and gayly colored, have a considerable com- 
mercial value as " Chilkat blankets." In their weaving they 
display a skill little inferior to that which has made the Navajo 
blanket famous. As wood carvers, also, they exhibit no mean 
skill, as is evidenced by the decorations of their totem poles and 
canoes. Their folk lore, myths and traditions exhibit a wonder- 
ful poetic sense for so primitive a people and, indeed, this is true 
in no less degree of the Haydas and Tsimpseans. 

Dietary of the Chilkats. 

One of the Chilkats' greatest delicacies is what is known as 
the salmon berry, a fruit salmon-red in color and shaped like 
blackberries. This fruit has a musky and at the same time an 
unpleasant flavor for white people, but the Chilkats call them 



486 ETHNOGRAPHY. 

their greatest relish. They eat large quantities of them in an oil, 
the preparation of which, to say the least, is peculiar. 

In making this oil the women gather up all the salmon heads 
and bury them underneath the ground, where they leave them 
for several days, until they become very odoriferous and "ripe." 
Then they dig the fish heads up, place them in an old boat and 
throw red-hot stones among them to try out the oil. After the 
stones cool the Chilkat women get into the boat and squeeze 
out the oil from the fish heads by tramping and stamping upon 
them with their bare feet. The oil is then dipped up, and, being 
poured over the salmon berries, makes — to the Chilkats — an 
appetizing dish, which they partake of with great and evident 
relish. It is not likely that any of the tenderfeet journeying up 
into the gold diggings of the Klondike will stop at any Chilkat 
public houses on the way for a dish of salmon berries dressed in 
oil. 

The Chilkats reckon their wealth in blankets, and a wealthy 
man will often accumulate as many as iooo blankets. To add 
to their stock of blankets through life they would undergo any 
hardship, in many cases actually starving themselves to add to 
their accumulations. 

Hootzanoos Make Hoochinoo. 

The ordinary food eaten by the Chilkats is fresh or dried 
salmon, but when hungry they will often consume large quanti- 
ties of lard and other fat. A storekeeper of Juneau tells of one 
able-bodied Chilkat who came into his store and purchased a 
four quart tin of hog lard and cotton seed oil combined and ate 
every drop of it before leaving the store. 

The Hootzanoos at Killisnoo make an outright claim to having 
come from over the sea. They first distilled " hoochinoo," or 
native rum, making it in old coal oil cans from a mash com- 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 487 

posed of molasses and yeast. They learned the trick from the 
whites. They are the giants of the race. 

The Hoonas, on the icy strait, a warlike tribe, have been long- 
est preserved by environment from contact with the whites. Not 
for that reason but because they deserved it they have always 
had a bad name. In this respect, their brethren, the Auks, are 
like them, though they are not a quarrelsome tribe. They live 
along Douglas Channel. 

The Sitkans as at present constituted contain many members 
of decidedly mixed breed, descended from outcasts, renegades, 
malcontents and wanderers. They are the farthest from the 
pure blood of any of the tribes. Once the greatest term of 
contempt in the Thlinket nation was : "As great a blockhead as 
a Sitkan." Not until 182 1 were they permitted by the whites 
to settle on the shore, and several times after that act of 
clemency they repaid it by attacking the station. However, 
they were generally quickly overcome. Rum and contact with 
lawless whites have done much to destroy them. They are the 
best dressed and most intellectual of the tribes. 

Traits of the Stickines. 

The Stickines who inhabit the valley of the Stickine River, 
near its mouth, are a peaceable tribe at present, though they 
have made trouble for the whites in the past within the latter 
half of the century, having captured a trading vessel and mur- 
dered the crew. They possess many of the traits of the other 
Columbian coast tribes, believe in the Thunder Bird as if to sug- 
gest a southern origin, and are shrewd traders, and hard drinkers 
and gamesters when they get a chance. 

Kenaians is a name applied by the Indians to the natives 
inhabiting the country north of Copper River and west of the 
mountains, except the Esquimos and Aleuts. They are generally 



488 ETHNOGRAPHY. 

peaceful and well disposed, though ready to avenge affront or 
wrong. They are good hunters and traders. 

The Haydas (Skittagetans) were and are the flower of the 
native races. They are taller, fairer, and with more regular 
features than any of the other Columbian coast tribes, and 
nearer to the Thlinkets in characteristics than to any other 
people, but they are aliens to the Thlinkets, nevertheless, phy- 
sically and mentally, in speech and customs. The Thlinkets 
call them " Di-Kinyo," the people of the sea. They are the 
northmen of the Pacific. Once, their forays extended as far 
south as Puget Sound, and they seized a schooner in Seattle 
Harbor and murdered the crew. 

Old Traditions and Legends. 

Their origin is the puzzle of ethnologists. They have a tradi- 
tion of a deluge and a sole surviving raven from which their 
people sprung. Some identify them as the descendants of the 
Aztecs whom Cortez drove out of Mexico. Their legend of the 
Thunder Bird is the same as that of the Aztecs and the Zunis. 
They have images and relics similar to those found in Gaute- 
malan ruins. But they have modern Apache words in their 
speech and dances and picture writing like the Zunis. Their 
resemblance to the Japanese is also very marked, and as the 
Japanese current touches directly on Queen Charlotte's shores, 
junks may have been stranded there in the days when the Japanese 
built sea-going junks and traveled afar. They have Japanese 
words in their speech, they sit at their work and pull their tools 
towards them like the Japanese. They are imitative, too, like the 
Japanese. In many of their customs, their bark weaving and their 
carving they resemble the Maoris of New Zealand and the South 
Sea Islanders. They have carried the totem pole to its highest 
development. Their folk lore is highly poetical. 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 489 

The Aleuts, or inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, have been 
so mixed with Russians, Indian and Kamschadale stock that it 
is difficult to find pure blooded men or women in the settlements, 
The predominant features among them to-day are small, wide- 
set dark eyes, broad and high cheek-bones, causing the jaw, 
which is full and square to often appear peaked ; coarse, straight, 
black hair ; small neatly-shaped feet and hands and brownish 
yellow complexion. In many particulars they closely resemble 
the Esquimo. Some few of the half-breeds are handsome physical 
specimens of the human race. The average stature of the men 
is five feet four or five inches, though some are over six feet. 
They resemble the Konos of northern Japan. 

The Aleuts, as a people, have been Christians for over a hun- 
dred years and many of them read and write. They adopted 
the Christian faith with very little opposition, willingly exchang- 
ing their barbarous customs and wild superstitions for the agree- 
able rites of the Greek Church and its refined myths and 

legends. 

Old Dwellings and New. 

When first known to the whites they lived in large yourts or 
" oolagha-moo," dirt houses, partly underground, going in and 
out with the smoke through a hole in the top. One of these 
ancient yourts, whose foundations were lately standing on Unalaska 
Island, was eighty-seven yards long and forty wide. In these 
dirt houses the primitive Aleuts dwelt by fifties and hundreds for 
the double purpose of protection and warmth. To-day nearly 
every Aleutian family has a hut or " barabkie," or a neat frame 
cottage, the latter owing to the Alaska Commercial Company in 
most instances. The "barabkie," though built partly under- 
ground, is a vast improvement over the yourt, has a window at 
one end and a door at the other and is embellished within with 
pictures of the church and patron saints. Here the Aleut spends 



490 ETHNOGRAPHY. 

most of his time, when not engaged in hunting, either drinking 
cup after cup of boiling tea or stupefying himself with " quass," 
a native beer or with home-distilled rum. 

The Aleuts are remarkably polite, not only to the whites but 
to one another. The women are great gossips, despite the few 
topics of conversation which they can have, and they visit freely 
and pleasantly among themselves. It is only when under the 
influence of liquor that they lose their amiability and show some- 
thing of the old savage nature. They used to be great drunkards, 
but the church is gradually weaning them from the disastrous 

habit. 

Heavy Burdens and Short Lives. 

As parents they are extremely indulgent while their children 
are under ten years of age, but after this time they become strict 
disciplinarians and hard taskmasters, putting burdens upon young 
shoulders that are heavy enough for adults and always exacting 
implicit obedience. The infant mortality is excessive as a result 
of the bad habits and sanitation of the people. The race is 
short-lived, owing to utter disregard of the laws of health. 
They are all more or less tainted with scrofula. They marry 
young and without the least evidence of sentimentality. And 
yet some of the women are decidedly pretty. 

The men are sea-otter hunters, first, last and all the time, ex- 
cept as necessity may force them temporarily to some other occu- 
pation. In the chase they are bold and skillful and they venture 
far out to sea in their skin " bidarkas " and kayaks with an in- 
difference which forever secures them against competition by the 
whites. The sufferings they undergo from cold and scanty food 
while in the chase can be better imagined than described. They 
haul their boats out of the water every night and bivouac along 
the coast in biting gales, in rain, sleet and fog, without covering 
and almost invariably without a fire. 



CHAPTER XX. 
Native Religion and Traits. 

The Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are Intelli- 
gent, Inventive, and Imitative — Are Adepts in the Vices of the White 
Men Who Visit Them — Are Natural-born Drunkards and Gamblers — 
Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times — The Significance of these 
Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in Oral Traditions — The 
Theological and Cosmological Belief of the Indians — Odd Notions of 
the Aboriginal Thinkers — Samples of the Rites Practiced — Cannibalism 
and Shamanism — Law and Home Life — Description of the Innuits of the 
North. 

THE Alaskan Indians are a unique people in a strange set- 
ting. The visitor to the Territory will be surprised at their 
manners, their speech, their looks and their customs, and 
above all, at their intelligence. The Hon. Vincent Colyer, once 
Special Indian Commissioner to Alaska, said in his report : "I 
do not hesitate to say that if three-fourths of the Alaskan In- 
dians were landed in New York, as coming from Europe, they 
would be selected as among the most intelligent of the many 
worthy immigrants who daily arrive at that point." 

This may seem a rather unusual tribute to a people whom we 
are accustomed to regard as mere savages. The words of Col- 
yer, however, are not unduly eulogistic. There is a wide dis- 
parity among the natives, of course ; but, from the extreme 
southern point of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, these children of 
the wilderness are characterized by a shrewdness and a cleverness 
that, despite the traces of barbarism to be seen, differentiate them 
in a marked degree from the other aboriginal inhabitants of America. 
As was said in the chapter on ethnology, it is a grave ques- 
tion among scientists whence the natives came, opinion differing in 
a very marked degree. Some contend that they came from the 

491 



492 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

central portion of the continent, and others maintain that they are 
of Mongolian origin. Be this as it may, the natives are there, 
and they will of necessity be a curious study to all the people 
from the Southern States who may visit the Territory. The 
strangers in the country will find in the natives characteristics of 
many races, and will see unmistakable indications of the shreds 
of culture and education which they derived from the Russians. 

Natives First Teachers. 

The Russians, being the first occupants of the land, naturally 
became the first teachers of the natives. These Indians are an 
inventive and emphatically an imitative people. In this regard 
they show a close resemblance to the Chinese and Japanese. 
The natural aptitude of the people for following examples is well 
illustrated by the exceptional skill they manifest in the matter of 
weaving delicate fabrics, making graceful canoes and carving 
their totem poles, those symbols of savage life which may be 
found wherever a group of Indians have settled. 

This aptitude for imitation is also shown by the way in which 
the natives pick up the vices of the white settlers in the country. 
As might be expected, the examples set them are often not of 
the best, inasmuch as the class of people who go to a wild and 
unsettled country like Alaska are apt not to be of the highest stamp. 

The natives have thus thrust before them very often deplorable 
practices and vices, which they pick up and follow as assiduously 
as do their instructors. The road to wrong is thus made smooth 
for them, and it is not strange, therefore, if those who now flock 
to the gold diggings find the savages adepts in many of the 
reprehensible practices commonly followed in more civilized com- 
munities. 

The Indians, for example, are ardent lovers of intoxicants. 
The Russians, shortly after Bering crossed the Pacific with his 



NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 493 

band of hardy adventurers, learned to make a cooling and com- 
paratively harmless drink from rye meal mixed with water, which 
they put in a cask and allowed to ferment. From this time this 
drink was their luxury. But it was not a great while before 
native ingenuity led them to mix in their beverage a little sugar, 
flour, dried apples and hops, and the result was that they had an 
intoxicating drink that would put the worst form of fire water to 
the blush, so far as its effects were concerned. 

Receive a New Tutor. 

Then a discharged American soldier taught them how to distil 
liquor, and native ingenuity again led them to manufacture their 
own stills, which they made from kerosene cans, with the addi- 
tion of the hollow stem of the seaweed. The art of making in- 
toxicants they have never forgotten, and the prospector and 
miner to-day will find the natives filling themselves up with these 
drinks and running amuck, in which condition the crazy natives 
are well fitted for any deeds of violence or viciousness. 

Again, the Indians are inveterate gamblers, but whether they 
learned this from their white instructors is a question. The 
natives are as simple in the games of chance by which they 
gamble away everything, from their wives to their dinners, as 
they are in their domestic arrangements and their habits. 

The favorite game is played with a number of small sticks, which 
are cut of different sizes and colored different tints. These are 
named crab, whale, duck, otter, fox and the like. They are 
shuffled up and then placed under bunches of moss, and the 
game consists in guessing under what pile of moss the whale, 
or duck or what not may be. This, it will be seen, is literally 
a children's game, yet it is for the natives a serious matter, 
for very often on a guess a savage will lose home, possessions, 
everything. 



494 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

The natives of Alaska fall into various families, but for the 
purpose of setting forth their most striking customs and character- 
istics, they maybe divided into two great divisions, the Thlinkets, 
or people of Southern Alaska, and the Innuits, or people who 
live in the extreme northern regions. The Innuits, by the way, 
are not infrequently called Esquimeaux. The minor divisions of 
each of these great classes present few differences. There is, 
however, a very sharp contrast between the two great classes 
themselves. 

Forests of Totem Poles. 

Wherever one finds a Thlinket settlement, he will find a 
forest of totem poles. The significance of these poles has often 
been made a matter of question, but it is commonly believed 
now that the poles have no religious significance, and are not 
objects of idolatrous worship. They are rather to be considered 
as a sort of heraldic designs, distinguishing families, very much 
in the same way that the herandic devices of the nobility of 
Europe distinguish families. 

Totemism becomes thus, the base of the natives social organ- 
ization, and the totem pole becomes nothing more or less than 
a tribal mark distinguishing the dwellings and belongings of 
separate families or clans. 

It is interesting to note that only animal totems occur. The na- 
tives thus practically live under the guardianship of some one or 
other of the wild beasts or the birds or the fishes that abound 
in the Territory. The crow or raven represents woman, the 
creative principal. The wolf represents the aggressive or fight- 
ing creature. These two forms of totem are the most prevalent 
along the coast. 

That these totem poles are simply a family designation, as 
was said above, is borne out by the fact that men do not marry 
women of their own totem. The Thlinkets were not slow in 



NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 495 

making totem poles representative of the two great nations with 
which they had most to do, Great Britain and the United States. 
They fashioned one totem with a unicorn, and it stood for 
" King George men ; " and they made another with a spread 
eagle, and had that designate the " Boston men," an ingenuous 
tribute, perhaps, to Boston as the hub of the universe. 

Some Indian families thus live under the special protection of 
the bear, the whale, the frog, the wolf; and it is an easy matter 
to recognize the family by the rude conventionalized carvings to 
be found before their doors. Some of these poles are very 
elaborately carved from top to bottom, often reaching fifty or 
sixty feet in height and being three or four feet in diameter. 

Rich Oral Mythology. 

Centreing largely about these poles, the natives have an oral 
mythology, which is often of the most fabulous character. These 
legends are religiously handed down from father to son and are 
rehearsed to the visitors with all the semblance of conviction on 
the part of the narrators. Like many other things characteristic 
of the Indian's life and belief, these totem poles are largely 
becoming relics of the past and symbols merely of what used 
to be. This is due partly to the work of the missionaries and 
partly to the natives' intercourse in a commercial way with the 
white man. 

In the early days the Indians were devout believers in witch- 
craft, evil spirits, and all that sort of superstitious invention, and 
many were the horrors that they committed in obedience to this 
form of religious belief. Out of this grew various kinds of tor- 
ture, and not infrequently, the poor savages would die under the 
efforts of their friends to remove them from the influence of 
imaginary demons. 

Dr. Dall. one of the closest students of the Alaskan Indians. 



496 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

gives a very good account of the religious beliefs of the Thlin- 
kets. Says he : 

" Their religion is a feeble polytheism. Yehl is the maker of 
wood and waters, he put the sun, moon and stars in their places. 
He lives in the East, near the head-waters of the Maas River. 
He makes himself known in the east wind, Ssankheth, and his 
abode in Nasshak-Yehl. 

Men Groped in Darkness. 

" There was a time when men groped in the dark in search of 
the world. At that time a Thlinket lived who had a wife and 
sister. He loved the former so much that he did not permit her 
to work. Eight little red birds, called kun, were always around 
her. One day she spoke to a stranger. The little birds flew 
and told the jealous husband, who prepared to make a box to 
shut his wife up. He killed all his sister's children because they 
looked at his wife. 

" Weeping, the mother went to the seashore. A whale saw 
her and asked the cause of her grief, and when informed, told 
her to swallow a small stone from the beach and drink some sea 
water. In eight months she had a child, whom she hid from 
her brother. This son was Yehl. 

"At that time the sun, moon and stars, were kept by a rich 
chief in separate boxes, which he allowed no one to touch. Yehl, 
by strategy, secured and opened these boxes, so that the moon 
and stars shone in the sky. When the sun box was opened, the 
people, astonished at the unwonted glare, ran off into the moun- 
tains, woods and even into the water, becoming animals or fish. 
He also provided fire and water. Having arranged everything 
for the comfort of the Thlinkets, he disappeared where neither 
man or spirit can penetrate. 

" There are an immense number of minor spirits called Yekh. 



NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 497 

Each Shaman has his own familiar spirits to do his bidding, and 
others on whom he may call in certain emergencies. These 
spirits are divided into three classes — Khiyekh, the upper ones ; 
Takhi-Yekh, land spirits ; and Tekih-Yekh, sea spirits. The first 
are the spirits of the brave killed in war, and dwell in the North. 
Hence a great display of Northern Lights is looked upon as an 
omen of war. 

Responsibility of Mourners. 

" The second and third are the spirits of those who died in the 
common way, and who dwell in Takhan-Khov. The ease with 
which these latter reach their appointed place is dependent on 
the conduct of their relations in mourning for them. In addition 
to these spirits, every one has his Yekh, who is always with him, 
except in cases when the man becomes exceedingly bad, when 
the Yekh leaves him. 

" These spirits only permit themselves to be conjured by the 
sound of a drum or rattle. The last is usually made in the 
shape of a bird, hollow, and filled with small stones. These are 
used at all festivities and whenever the spirits are wanted." 

As might be expected from this form of religious belief, a large 
share of the attention of the worshippers is given to propitiating 
evil spirits, and the religion of the natives of southern Alaska 
thus practically resolves itself into a form of devil worship. 
This, doubtless, is the origin of Shamanism, which really consists 
in making offerings to evil spirits in order to prevent them from 
doing mischief to the people. 

The religion of the Indians, therefore, has a certain similarity 
to that of the old Tartar race before the gospel of Buddha was- 
introduced. Indeed, forms of belief, very similar to those just 
given above, may still be found among some of the peoples in 
Siberia. 

The one whose duty it is particularly to propitiate the evil 
32 



498 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

spirits is the great medicine man, or sorcerer, or Shaman of the 
tribe. He, it is supposed, has control not only of the spirits, but, 
through the spirits, of diseases, and of the elements. Dr. Dall 
points out the fact that the honor and respect in which a Shaman 
is held depends upon the number of spirits supposed to be under 
his control. It is curious to note that whale's blubber, one of 
the greatest delicacies among the Indians of the North, was put 
under ban by a Shaman. To this day it is regarded with abhor- 
ence by the Thlinkets in the South. 

It can readily be seen that the Shaman is virtually a ruler 
among his people and that by prostitution of his power he can 
make himself a terror. Bancroft, in his " Native Races on the 
Pacific Coast," thus speaks of Shamanism : 

" Thick, black clouds, portents of evil, hang threateningly 
over the savage during his entire life. Genii murmur in the 
flowing river. In the rustling branches of the trees are heard 
the breathing of the gods. Goblins dance in the vaporing 
twilight, and demons howl in the darkness. All these beings 
are hostile to man and must be propitiated by gifts and prayers 
and sacrifices, and the religious worship of some of the tribes 
includes practices which are frightful in their atrocity. Here, 
for example, is a right of sorcery as practised among the 
Haidahs, one of the northern nations. 

Sample Religious Rite. 

" When the salmon season is over and the provisions of winter 
have been stored away, feasting and conjuring begin. The 
chief, who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed to 
possess little authority save for his connection with the preter- 
human powers, goes off to the loneliest and wildest retreat he 
knows of or can discover in the mountains or forest, and half 
starves himself there for some weeks, till he is worked up to a 



NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 499 

frenzy of religious insanity At last the inspired demoniac 

returns to his village naked, save a bearskin or a ragged blanket, 
with a chaplet on his head and a red band of alder bark about 
his neck. 

" He springs on the first person he meets, bites out and 
swallows one or more mouthfuls of the man's living flesh, 
wherever he can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and 
another, repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor 
from his sudden and half masticated surfeit of flesh. For some 
days after this he lies in a kind of coma, like an ' overgorged 
beast of prey,' as Dunn says; the same observing that 'his breath 
during that time is like an exhalation from the grave.' The 
victims of this ferocity dare not resist the bite of the Taamish ; 
on the contrary they are sometimes willing to offer themselves 
for the ordeal, and are always proud of their scars." 

The Indians are thus held in abject fear by the Shamans, and 
it is possibly due to this fact that the missionaries of the Christian 
church were so cordially welcomed and their ministrations and 
teachings so gratefully received. In a large measure these old 
beliefs of the natives are passing away. 

Witchcraft Still Exists. 

Still, Miner W. Bruce assures us that despite the efforts of 
missionaries and teachers, and the influence of civilization, 
witchcraft is believed in still to a greater or less extent. Evil 
spirits, he says, are still believed to take possession of the old, 
the decrepit and the deformed, and sometimes also of the young. 
These supposed unfortunates then have to be exorcised, and it 
becomes a matter of duty on the part of the Shamans to dis- 
possess them of their tormentors. 

One of the curious things that will be noticed by the traveler 
in Alaska, is the natives' method of disposing of the dead. 



500 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

Many years ago cremation was generally practiced along the 
whole coast. This, however, has fallen into abeyance, except 
among those tribes who have not yet been visited by missionary 
influences. Wherever the influence of the Christian church has 
been felt the natives have adopted a modified form of disposal 
of the dead, based on our common custom. 

The dead are usually placed in boxes, but as these boxes are 
not long enough to permit the whole body to recline at full 
length, the joints are severed so that the corpse may be placed 
in a sitting posture. Then the box is put away in some more or 
less remote place and usually kept above ground. There is a 
little bit of sentiment attached to the practice of the savages of 
placing their dead on some high point so that the departed spirit 
can look out upon the plains and valleys which were his former 
haunts. 

Often, also, some of the personal effects of the deceased are 
placed beside him in the box. The Shamans, or medicine men, 
it must be remembered, are never cremated. Their bodies lie in 
state for four days, one day in each corner of the building. Then 
the corpse is conveyed to the dead house, placed in an upright 
position, and surrounded with all the blankets and paraphernalia 
that the Indian's idea of comfort suggests as necessary for the 
spirit land. It is a common practice of the people to dispose of 
the bodies of witches and slaves with the greatest secrecy. 

Cannibalism was Prevalent. 

It should be mentioned here that directly connected with and 
growing out of Shamanism is one of the most horrible of cus- 
toms or practices, namely, cannibalism. This was commonly 
practiced by the whole people on the death of the chief, and the 
members of the tribe would enter with zest upon their horrid 
repast. Frequently, too, on the death of a chief a number of 



NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 501 

slaves were sacrificed that they might accompany their lord to 
the hereafter. The bodies of these slaves, it is supposed, were 
cooked and eaten. 

Within the days of the American occupation of the land, 
medicine men have been known to devour portions of corpses 
under the belief that they would thus acquire control of the 
spirit and gain influence over demons. Happily, however, these 
enormities are growing fewer and fewer, and it is not improbable 
that at an early day, under the influence of Christian teaching, 
the superstitious rites and abominable practices of the savages 
will entirely disappear. 

War dances and religious dances are also features of the In- 
dian's life. Dr. Sheldon Jackson describes one he witnessed at 
Fort Wrangel in 1879. Says he : 

"One afternoon we were invited to the house of Toy-a-att, a 
leading chief and Christian, to witness a representation of some 
of their national customs. When everything was prepared, 
dressed in a hunting shirt, with face blackened and spear in hand, 
Toy-a-att appeared in the war dance. Retiring amid much ap- 
plause, he reappeared in the form of a wolf and with mask, roll- 
ing eyes and snapping teeth, gave the dance of the invocation of 
the spirits for successful hunting. 

" Then he put on a horrible mask to represent the devil, and 
with hideous rattles, gave the devil orTamanamus dance. Then 
with dress and mask and large hat, with tinkling bells on the rim, 
and eider-down in the crown, which down he showered around the 
room as blessings upon his guests, and rattles in his hands, he 
gave us the religious dance of the Shamans, or medicine men. 
After the series of national dances, he came out and made a 
speech, apologizing for the feebleness of his representations." 

A word more specifically about the Shamans. When they are 
ill their relatives are expected to fast in order to promote his 



502 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 

recovery. Their commands are absolute law. Every Shaman 
has any amount of paraphernalia, which includes a large assort- 
ment of masks — one for every spirit or demon over which he 
is supposed to have any power. The Shaman's hair is never cut. 
As was said above, on death his body is never burned or buried, 
but is put in a wooden box on four high posts. 

Attending the funeral are certain performances, which begin at 
sunset and last till sunrise. Those who participate assemble in 
the Shaman's lodge and unite in a song, to which time is beaten 
on a drum. Then follows a form of religious dance, which in a 
measure includes or suggests all the ceremonies known to the 
art of Shamanism. 

By these ceremonies, it is believed, the different spirits repre- 
sented by the Shaman's various masks are all for the moment 
inspired. 

Turning from these weird rites and superstitious beliefs, it is a 
pleasure to note that very many of the natives are clever arti- 
sans, if not artists. Their totem poles, as has been said, are often 
very skilfully carved. Arrow heads, spear heads, and silver and 
copper ornament likewise go to show that the natives are not 
destitute of artistic taste. The baskets of the Indians are also of 
ingenious design and coloring. These are made from grasses 
and roots. 

The women do the weaving, and often the blankets they make 
are very beautiful in design and workmanship. The women sit 
day after day at their rude hand looms, and not infrequently it 
takes six months for an industrious workwoman to make a 
single blanket. The visitor to Alaska, however, is very apt to 
be imposed upon, as a large percentage of the blankets that are 
offered for sale, and said to be of genuine Indian make, are 
spurious. The real article, Mr. Bruce says, is now becoming 
very scarce. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
Spread of the Christian Faith. 

Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Purer Religion to the 
Savages— Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Progress of 
Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of the Lutheran 
Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to Provide for Their 
Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the Territory to the United 
States — Deed Interest Shown By the Natives — Some Striking Literature 
from the Wilds — Methodists Follow the Presbyterians in Their Missions 
— Great Hope for the Future. 

THE cross has been planted in the wilds of Alaska for over 
a century ; and, strange to say, the Empress Catherine of 
Russia personally took the steps necessary to carry a 
purer religion into the barbaric rites and superstitious practices 
of the savages. 

It was on June 30, 1793, that Catherine issued an Imperial 
order that missionaries should be sent to her American colonies. 
That order was obeyed immediately, as autocratic mandates are, 
and eleven monks set sail as soon as their equipment could be 
provided from Ochotsk for Kadiak Island. 

This little band of Christian workers was in charge of Archi- 
mandrite Joasaph, elder in the order of Augustin friars. In 
1796 Joasaph was made bishop and returned to Russia to 
receive consecration. That year was signalized by the erection 
of the first church in Alaska. 

The newly-consecrated bishop and the missionaries coming 
with him were shipwrecked and lost on the return trip in 1799. 
All save one. This solitary monk remained alone in the Rus- 
sian colonies for eleven years before another soul was sent 
to assist him in his work. Then, in 1822, three more priests 
were sent, who reached the colonies safely. 

503 



501 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

The one man, however, of all others, who did most to spread 
Christianity in Alaska during the days of the Russian occupa- 
tion was Innocentius Veniaminoff. He began his labors at 
Unalaska in 1823. For seventeen years he worked as an ordi- 
nary priest, and then he was made bishop. Step by step he 
advanced from one position to another until he became Metro- 
polite of Moscow, which is the highest position in the Greek 
Church. He died in the spring of 1879, and, it is safe to say, 
was sincerely mourned, not merely by his countrymen, but by 
the savages, among whom he had worked in Alaska, and to 
whom he had brought the blessings of civilized life. 

What is more, he was the one Russian priest sent to Alaska 
who left an untarnished name in that country, and who evinced 
anything like the true missionary spirit. As a result of his exer- 
tions, the Russian Church at one time had seven missionary dis- 
tricts in Alaska, with eleven priests and sixteen deacons. In the 
year 1869 the Russian Church in Alaska claimed a membership 

of 12,140. 

Helped by Fur Company. 

It is one of the bright spots on the records of the Russian 
Fur Company that it contributed annually $6600 to the support 
of the missions. The sum of $2313 was annually received from 
the Mission Fund of the Holy Synod, and $1100 for the sup- 
port of the work was received from the sale of candles in the 
church. The balance came from private individuals. 

There was no opportunity for ostentation and display, and 
consequently the church work was conducted as economically 
as efficiently. The result was that in i860 the church had a 
balance or surplus of $37,000, which was loaned out at five per 
cent, interest. 

In evidence of the practical side of this early missionary work 
one may point out the fact that a school system was soon 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 505 

developed in the wilderness. The first school was established 

by Shelikoff on the Island of Kadiak. Three things alone were 

taught — language, arithmetic and religion. This was about the 

year 1792, and it was not a great many years thereafter that a 

similar school was established at Sitka. In 1841 an ecclesiastical 

school was opened in Sitka, and in 1845 this was made a regular 

seminary. 

Object of the Schools. 

Established as they were, under religious auspices, these 
schools were all of a parochial nature and their main object 
was to further the spread of the Greek Church. In 1 860 we find 
a colonial school opened, with twelve students, which two years 
later had gained twenty-seven students. 

Even in those far off districts and virtually among savages it 
is pleasing to find the first steps taken in a movement which has 
only of recent years become popular in civilized communities, 
namely, the education of women. In 1839 a girls' school was 
established in the wild regions of Alaska, which, in a certain 
sense, was also an orphans' home. It was patronized largely 
by children of the employes of the Fur Company. 

Separate schools for the natives were also established, one 
being opened in 1825 on Unalaska Island. A similar school at 
Amlia Island had thirty in i860. As far north as the lower 
Yukon, school-houses were also built. 

The suspension of all these schools followed almost immedi- 
ately upon the occupation of the country by the United States 
Government. 

During the Russian domination the Russian-American Fur 
Company employed many Swedes, Finlanders and Germans, 
and to this fact is due the introduction of the Lutheran faith in 
Alaska. A church was built in Sitka in 1845, which was still 
running in 1852 under the charge of the first Lutheran minister 



506 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

sent to Sitka to provide for the population indicated. He was 
succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Wintec, who preached in the Swed- 
ish and German languages. Mr. Wintec remained until 1867, 
when the Russian Government withdrew his support, and he 
returned to Europe. 

During the life of this early Lutheran Church, however, the 
work was done as carefully and as economically as by the 
Greek Church, and the denomination soon accumulated many 
thousand dollars in church property. It should be observed 
that the Protestant Churches of Russia, while allowed no self- 
governing and self-sustaining organizations, are still recognized 
under the Ministerium of Public Instruction Provision is made 
for their support, which comes direct from the public treasury. 

Decline of Church Work. 

It seems that when, in 1867, the great Territory of Alaska 
became part of the dominion of the United States it was to fall 
away from God's providence. At least, for many years nothing 
was done either to preserve or extend the work that had already 
been done. This in spite of the fact that when the purchase 
was made by Secretary Seward the matter of evangelizing the 
savages was discussed by almost every church organization 
throughout the country. Says the Rev. Sheldon Jackson : 

" It was expected that the churches of the United States, with 
their purer religion and greater consecration, would send in more 
efficient agencies than Russia had done. But ten years rolled 
around and the churches did nothing. Ten years passed and 
hundreds of immortal souls, who had never so much as heard 
that there was a Savior, were hurried to judgment from a 
Christian land. Ten years came and went and thousands were 
left to grow up in ignorance and superstition, and form habits 
that will keep them away from the Gospel, if it is ever offered them." 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 507 

The Indians themselves, however, had experienced something 
of the blessings which the Greek Church had brought them and 
noticed with regret that their brethren in the districts where 
formerly the Russian priests ministered were retrograding. 

So, in the spring of 1876, Clah, Su-gah-na-te, Ta-lik, John 
Ryan, Lewis Ween, Andrew Moss, Peter Pollard, George Pem- 
berton and James Ross, all Tsimpsean Indians, went from Fort 
Simpson to Fort Wrangel to obtain work. Here they secured a 
contract to cut wood for the government, and here on the Sab- 
bath it was their practice to meet together for worship, as in the 
old days before Alaska became a portion of the United States. 

This little band of devoted Indians is responsible for the 
re -birth of Christianity in the Territory. Its members found a 
warm friend and protector in Captain S. P. Jocelyn, of the 
United States Infantry, who was then in command at that station. 
He took a hand in the movement, secured a room for worship 
on the Sabbath, and helped the Indians in every possible way. 

All this in face of the futile efforts being made in the United 
States. It may be interesting to note some of the projects in 
the old settled States that came to naught. 

Some Apathetic Projects. 

The Rev. Dr. Saunders, of the Board of Domestic Missions 
of the Presbyterian Church, offered a resolution soon after the 
purchase of the Territory that a band of missionaries be sent by 
the church to Alaska. A similar proposition was made to the 
Committee on Home Missions of the same church. From 1869 
to 1877 the Rev. George H. Atkinson repeatedly agitated the 
question of sending missionaries to the Territory. 

These efforts in the Presbyterian Church were backed up by 
Major-General O. O. Howard, of the United States Army, and 
the Hon. Vincent Colyer, Secretary of the Board of Indian 



508 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 



Commissioners. This last friend of the Indians even succeeded 
in getting Congress to appropriate $50,000 for educational pur- 
poses in the Territory, but no one was found willing to go to the 
wilds of the North and administer the fund, and so it was not used. 
In 1875 and 1876, however, the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, accom- 
panied by Mrs. A. R. McFarland, went to the Territory and 




MISSIONARY AMONG THE ALASKA INDIANS. 

renewed the work for the Presbyterian denomination. The 
missionaries met at various houses, in vacant stores, and even in 
the huts of the natives, and held religious services, and especially 
lent their aid in support of the little band of Indians mentioned 
above, and in 1879 there was such interest in Christian work in 
the districts they visited that services of a revival nature were 
frequently held and were largely attended by the Indians. 

It is curious to notice how quickly and sincerely the savages 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 509 

took to the new life and its literature. Dr. Jackson gives a list 
of some inscriptions he copied from an Indian cemetery, where 
once were found, as indications of religious belief, nothing but 
the totem poles of the savages. Among these inscriptions were 
the following : 

" His end was peace." " There is hope in his death." "Jesus 
pity me." " Take my hand and lead me to the Father." " I have 
been poor in the world and wicked, but all is over now." "Take 
me home to God." "Said to his father, trust in God." "He 
departed trusting in Jesus." " Of such is the kingdom of 
Heaven." " His last act was to sing a hymn and offer a prayer 
to God." 

Still more interesting and significant is the following creed or 
statement of belief, or religious compact, which the Indians drew 
up and signed : 

1. " We concur in the action of Mr. I. C. Dennis, Deputy Col- 
lector of the United States Custom House, appointing Toy-a-att, 
Moses, Matthew and Sam to search all canoes and stop the traffic 
of liquor among the Indians. 

2. " We, who profess to be Christians, promise with God's 
help to strive as much as possible to live at peace with each 
other, to have no fighting, no quarreling, no tale-bearing among us. 
These things are all sinful and should not exist among Christians. 

3. "Any troubles that may arise among the brethren, between 
husbands and wives, or if any man leaves his wife, these brethren, 
Toy-a-att, Moses, Matthew, Aaron and Lot, have authority to 
settle the troubles and decide what the punishment shall be, and 
if fines are imposed, how much the fines shall be. 

4. " The authority of these brethren is binding upon all, and 
no person is to resist or interfere with them, as they are ap- 
pointed by Mr. Dennis and Mrs. McFarland. 

5. " To all the above we subscribe our names." 



510 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

These little incidents show that the natives were ripe for good 
Christian work, and those who had the courage to brave the 
dangers and hardships of the North in the interests of the 
church sent home the most favorable reports as to their reception 
and the most heartfelt regrets that the great Christian church of 
the United States should be so dilatory and apathetic in its mis- 
sion work in the Territory. 

And it must not be supposed that these children of Nature 
were slow of understanding or lacking in natural gifts. We 
quote, as an example of Indian eloquence and Indian earnestness, 
the following, which was reported in the Port Townsend Weekly 
Argus. The speaker was Chief Yoy-a-att, whose name occurs 
in the religious compact given above : 

" The white man's God we knew not of. Nature evinced to 
us that there was a great first cause. Beyond that all was blank. 
Our god was created by us, that is, we selected animals and 
birds, the images of which we revered as gods. 

" Natural instincts taught us to supply our wants from that 
which we beheld around us. If we wanted food, the waters 
gave us fish ; and if we wanted raiment, the wild animals of the 
woods gave us skins, which we converted to our use. Imple- 
ments of warfare and tools to work with we constructed rudely 
from stone and wood. Fire we discovered by friction. 

Change in the Dream. 

" In the course of time a change came over the spirit of our 
dreams. We became aware of the fact that we were not the only 
beings in the shape of man that inhabited this earth. White men 
appeared before us on the surface of the great waters in large 
ships, which we called canoes. 

" Each day the white man becomes more perfect in the arts 
and sciences, while the Indian is at a standstill. Why is this ? 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 511 

Is it because the God you have told us of is a white God, and 
that you, being of his color, have been favored by him ? My 
brothers, look at our skin. We are dark. We are not your 
color ; hence you call us Indians. Is this the reason that we are 
ignorant ? Is this the cause of our not knowing our Creator ? 

We ask of our father at Washington that we be recognized as 
a people, inasmuch as he recognizes all other Indians in other 
portions of the United States. We ask that we be civilized, 
Christianized and educated. Give us a chance, and we will soon 
show to the world that we can become peaceable citizens and 
good Christians." 

In view of this direct appeal from the Indians themselves it is 
rather lamentable that the Christian Church of the United States 
for more than a decade not merely allowed all the work done by 
the Russians to lapse, but even brooked the introduction of evil 
practices and evil ways among the Indians. It must not be for- 
gotten that these savages were apt scholars not less in the vices 
of civilization than in its virtues. 

Took Naturally to Whisky. 

In illustration of this it may be said that early in the days of 
the American occupation the savages learned to distil whisky, 
calling their rudely made stills hoo-chi-noo. The natives made 
the whisky by distillation from molasses and their stills were 
very simple affairs. They consisted of two discarded kerosene 
oil cans and the long, hollow root of the sea weed for a pipe. 
The still took its name from the tribe that first manufactured it. 
The tutor of the savages in the art of making whisky was a dis- 
charged soldier. 

From 1877, when Dr. Jackson and Mrs. McFarland began the 
work of the Presbyterian missions of Alaska at Fort Wrangel, 
interest never died out. Steps were taken in the United States to 



512 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

render assistance and the little band of Indians who joined together 
in Christian work before the missionaries' arrival were their con- 
stant helpers. Communication was had as often as possible with 
interested people in the South, and soon these fearless workers 
for Christ had the satisfaction of knowing that, in a large 
measure, wherever their efforts were directed, they had put an 
end to witchcraft, and to many of the grosser practices of the 
Indians, and had thus brought better hopes, better manners and 
better morals among the natives. 

Methodists Begin Work. 

About the same time that this movement was inaugurated by 
the Presbyterian denomination, a similar movement was started 
by the Methodist Church. Dr. Jackson pays a tribute of appre- 
ciation to three men, whom he deems remarkable workers in the 
cause of religion in Alaska. These are the Rev. Innocentius 
Veniamimoff, of the Greek Church, who, commencing as a hum- 
ble priest in Alaska, was made Bishop and then Primate of the 
Greek Church of all Russia ; Mr. William Duncan, of the Church 
Missionary Society of London, who built up the model Indian 
village of Metlahkatlah ; and the Rev. Thomas Crosby, mission- 
ary of the Methodist Church of Canada at Fort Simpson, on the 
edge of Alaska. 

It was in February of 1862 that Mr. Crosby left his old parish 
for work among the Indians in the Territory. He began by teach- 
ing an Indian school at Nanaimo in 1863, and in 1867 he took a 
circuit extending up and down the coast among the Indians for 
1 80 miles, and up the Fraser River to Yale. Two years later 
he inaugurated a regular system of typical revival meetings 
among the natives, and hundreds of the Flathead Indians became 
interested and professed conversion. 

Mr. Crosby had several efficient allies. Among these was a 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 513 

Mrs. Dix, who was a full-blooded Indian woman, the daughter 
of a great chief, and a chieftess in her own right. When a child 
she was frequently taken up a great river in a canoe and taught 
to worship a large mountain peak. Her mother's god, Dr. 
Crosby says, was a fish. Desiring to learn something of the 
white man's God, the Indian girl began to attend religious services 
in Victoria, following it up systematically for seven years. But, 
as she afterwards stated, she found no light or comfort. 

A New Recruit. 

In 1868 a great medicine man named Amos, who, in his in- 
cantations, had torn in pieces with his teeth and eaten dead 
bodies, commenced attending the Methodist Church. Amos be- 
came one of the first converts and soon a class leader. Through 
him Mrs. Dix became a disciple of Christ, and later on an ardent 
worker for the betterment of her people. 

Another instance of Indian conversion may be given as a 
sample of the interest the natives took in the efforts made to in- 
struct them in Christian life. An old, grey-haired, blind Indian, 
hundred of miles away, heard of the work being done by the 
Methodist missionaries, and took his grandson and started for 
the coast. They paddled many a lonely mile in their canoe, and 
many were the suns that set upon their bleak evening camp. 

When near the coast, it is related, they were met by a Christian. 
The blind man was ever repeating to himself as he groped along : 
"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." The atten- 
tion of the Christian was arrested and his interests awakened. 
He stopped the little party and got from the old man the story 
of his wanderings. Then the Indian was directed to a mission 
station and went on his way rejoicing. He, too, during his life, 
and his grandson after him, were energetic and enthusiastic as- 
sistants of the missionaries. 



514 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

Under Methodist auspices schools of various kinds have been 
successfully established. A day school in winter was soon run- 
ning, which had 1 20 pupils, and it is not too much to say that 
the little band of energetic spirits who gathered about Mr. Crosby 
soon reached whole tribes and led them steadily, even though 
slowly, to a higher form of civilization. 

Under the influence of Christianity the Indians began to aban- 
don their large houses, which were the common abode of several 
families, and build separate houses for each family. Within two 
years from the time the work began sixty such dwellings had 
been erected by Indian mechanics, and the old houses, that had 
been scenes of so much depravity and corruption, were fast dis- 
appearing, with other remnants of the Indian's old life. 

No apology is offered for the insertion of the following simple 
but touching native address, which tells much of the spirit of 
the Indians and the earnestness with which they welcomed the 
new life that was brought to them : 

" We, the chiefs and people of the Naas, welcome you from 
our hearts on your safe arrival here, to begin in earnest the 
mission work you promised us last spring. 

Hope for the Young. 

" Our past life has been bad, very bad. We have been so 
long left in darkness that we fear you will not be able to do 
much for our old people, but for our young ones we have great 
hopes. We wish from our hearts to have our young men, 
women and children read and write, so that they may understand 
the duties they owe to their Creator and to each other. 

" You will find great difficulties in the way of such work, but 
great changes cannot be expected in one day. You must not 
get discouraged by a little trouble, and we tell you again that 
we will all help you as much as we can. 



SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 515 

" We believe this work to be of God. We have prayed, as 
you told us, and now we think that God has heard our prayers, 
and sent you to us ; and it seems to us like the day breaking in 
on our darkness, and we think that before long the great Sun 
will shine upon us and give us more light. 

" We hope to see the white men that settle among us set us 
good example, as they have had the light so long, they know 
what is right and what is wrong. We hope they will assist us 
to do good that we may become better and better every day by 
following their example. 

" We again welcome you from our hearts, and hope that the 
mission here will be like a great rock never to be moved or 
washed away. And in order to do this, we will pray to the Great 
Spirit that His blessing may rest upon this mission and upon 
us all. 

" (Signed) Chief of the Mountains 

and six other Chiefs." 



CHAPTER XXII. 
British Columbia and Northwest Territory. 

Region is One of Vast Extent and Diversified P'eatures— Has a Magnificent 
Ocean Frontage — A Land of Great Rivers which Afford Internal High- 
ways—Greatest of All is the Columbia— Has a Large Ocean Trade Even 
Now — Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful— Construction of Rail- 
ways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many Districts Famous 
for Their Grain and Others for Their Mineral Deposits — Gold Mines in 
Abundance — Klondike Within the Canadian Territory — Some of the 
Mines Now Worked — Silver Not Wanting. 

THE vast stretch of British territory lying immediately adja- 
cent to Alaska, British Columbia and Northwest Territory, 
properly calls for a description in the present work, since it 
contains many of the most valuable gold fields about which there 
was such excitement in the year 1897. The Klondike district, it 
will be remembered, is at least thirty-five miles within the real or 
alleged boundary between Canada and the United States. 

British Columbia is the most westerly province of Canada, ex- 
tending from the 49th parallel on the south to the 60th degree 
of north latitude, and from the summit of the Rocky Mountains 
westward to the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver Island and Queen's 
Charlotte's Islands being included within its bounds. The Pro- 
vince contains the immense area of 383,000 square miles. It is 
a diversified country of immense mountain ranges, fertile valleys, 
splendid forests and magnificent waterways. 

The position of British Columbia on the north Pacific Ocean, 
bearing a somewhat similar relation to the larger portions of the 
American continent that Great Britain does to Europe for the 
trade of the world, makes it one of the most important and valu- 

516 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 517 

able provinces of the Dominion, both commercially and politically. 

The Province has a magnificent ocean frontage of iooo miles. 
This coast line abounds in harbors, sounds, islands and navigable 
inlets. Principal among these harbors are English Bay and Coal 
Harbor, at the entrance to Burrard Inlet, a few miLs north of 
the Fraser River. Vancouver is the terminus of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, and is situated between these harbors. Vic- 
toria, on Vancouver Island, also has a magnificent outer harbor 
at which all the ocean liners dock, and an inner harbor for 
vessels drawing up to eighteen feet. It has also another harbor 
at Esquinalt, three miles to the southeast. 

This latter harbor is about two miles long and nearly two 
miles broad in the widest part. It has an average depth of six 
to eight fathoms and thus affords an excellent anchor for vessels. 
The Canadian government has built here a dry dock with a 
length of 450 feet and a width of ninety feet, which will accom- 
modate vessels of the largest size. 

Magnificent Rivers. 

Like Alaska, British Columbia and Northwest Territory have 
some magnificent rivers, principal among which are the Fraser, 
the Columbia, the Thompson, the Kootaney, the Skeena, the 
Stickine, the Laird, and the Peace. The Fraser River is the 
greater water course of the province, rising in the northern part 
of the Rocky Mountains, and running about 200 miles in two 
branches in a westerly direction, and thence in one stream due 
south for nearly 400 miles before turning to rush through the 
gorges of the coast range to the Straits of Georgia. 

The total length of the river is therefore about 740 miles. 
On its way the Fraser receives the tributary waters of the 
Thompson, the Chilicoten, the Lillooet, the Nicola, the Harri- 
son, the Pitt, and a number of smaller streams. For the last 



518 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

eighty miles of its course it flows through a wide alluvial plain, 
which has largely been deposited from its own silt. 

The Columbia River rises in the southeastern part of the 
province, in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, near the 
Kootanay Lake. On this lake has already been established a 
regular steamboat service. The Columbia runs north to just be- 
yond the 5 2d degree of latitude, and then turns suddenly and 
runs due south into the State of Washington. The loop thus 
made is commonly known as "The Big Bend of the Columbia." 
No less an area than 195,000 square miles is drained by the 
Columbia River. 

Network of Lakes and Creeks. 

The Peace River rises some distance north of the north bend 
of the Fraser and flows eastwardly to the Rocky Mountains, 
draining the plains on the other side. In the far north are the 
Skeena and Stickine Rivers, both flowing into the Pacific, the 
latter, of course, being in a country valuable for its gold 
deposits. The Thompson River has two branches, which are 
known as North Thompson and South Thompson. The former 
rises in small lakes in the Cariboo district, and the latter in the 
Shuswap Lakes in the Yale district. 

British Columbia, undeveloped and little known, as it is, is 
already an important Province of the Dominion. Its trade, 
which is ever rapidly increasing in volume, has assumed immense 
proportions, and reaches to China, Japan, Australia, Europe, 
Africa and South America. The principal seaport — Vancouver, 
the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway — is the 
gateway of the new and shortest highways to the Orient, the 
Far North, the Tropics and the Antipodes. The voyage from 
Yokohama, Japan, to London has already been made in twenty- 
one days by this route, beating all previous records ; and the 




i 

Villi Jhlill illlliliiitL 

519 



520 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

journey to and from Australia, via Vancouver, is speedier and 
more pleasant than by any other route. 

British Columbia attracts not only a large portion of the 
Japan, China and Australian rapid transit trade, but must neces- 
sarily secure much of the commerce of the Pacific Ocean, the 
steamers of the Canadian-Australian Line touching at the 
Hawaiian and Fijian Islands. Its timber is unequalled in quan- 
tity, quality or variety ; its numerous mines already discovered, 
and its great extent of unexplored country, speak of vast areas 
of rich mineral wealth ; its large fertile valleys indicate great 
agricultural resources, and its waters, containing marvelous quanti- 
ties of the most valuable fish, combine to give British Columbia a 
value that has been little understood. 

Boundaries of British Columbia. 

The vast Territory of British Columbia is divided into six dis- 
tricts, the New Westminster, the Cassiar, the Cariboo, the Lil- 
looet, the Yale, and the East and the West Kootenay. 

The New Westminster district extends from the international 
boundary line on the South to 50 15' on the North. Its east- 
ern boundary is the 122 longitude, and its western the 124 
where it strikes the head of Jarvis Inlet and the Straits of 
Georgia. In the southern portion of this district there is a good 
deal of excellent farming land, particularly in the delta of the 
Fraser River. The soil there is rich and strong, the climate 
mild, resembling that of England, with more marked seasons of 
rain and dry weather, and heavy yields are obtained without 
much labor. Very large returns of wheat have been got from 
land in this locality — as much as sixty-two bushels from a mea- 
sured acre, ninety bushels of oats per acre, and hay that yielded 
three and one-half to five tons to the acre, and frequently two 
crops, totaling six tons. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 521 

Experiments have of late years been made in fruit growing, 
with the most satisfactory results — apples, plums, pears, cherries 
and all the smaller fruits being grown in profusion, and at the 
Experimental Farm at Agassiz, figs in small quantities have been 
successfully produced. This part is fairly well settled, but there 
is still ample room for new comers. Those having a little money 
to use, and desirous of obtaining a ready-made farm, may find 
many to choose from. These settlements are not all on the 
Fraser ; some are at a distance from it on other streams. There 
is considerable good timber in the western and south-western 
portions. 

The chief towns of this district are Vancouver and New West- 
minster. Vancouver is situated on a peninsular, having Coal 
Harbor, in Burrard Inlet, on the East, and English Bay on the 
West. It is surrounded by a rare country, both in beauty and 
climate. In the far distance it is backed by the Olympian range. 
On the north it is sheltered by the mountains of the coast, and 
it is also sheltered from the ocean by the highlands of Van- 
couver Island. While it is thus protected on every side, a 
enjoys the sea breeze from the Straits of Georgia. 

The inlet affords unlimited space for sea-going ships, the land 
falls gradually to the sea, rendering drainage easy, and the situa- 
tion permits of indefinite expansion of the city in two directions. 
It has a splendid and inexhaustible water supply brought across 
the inlet from a river in a ravine of one of the neighboring 
heights. 

The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed to Vancouver 
in May, 1887, when the first through train arrived in that city 
from Montreal, Port Moody having been the western terminus 
from July of the preceding year. In 1887, also the Canadian 
Pacific Railway Company put a line of steamships on the route 
between Vancouver and Japan and China, and in 1893 an excel- 



522 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

lent service was established between Vancouver and Victoria 
and Australia, via Honolulu and Suva, Fiji. 

These three important projects are giving an impetus to the 
growth of the city by placing its advantages entirely beyond the 
realm of speculation, and the advancement made is truly 
marvelous. 

New Westminster was founded by Colonel Moody during the 
Fraser River gold excitement in 1858. It is situated on the 
north bank of the Fraser River, fifteen miles from its mouth. 
It is accessible for deep water shipping and lies in the centre of a 
tract of country of rich and varied resources. It is connected 
with the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway by a branch 
line from Westminster Junction and with Vancouver by an electric 
railway. 

This town is chiefly known for its great salmon trade and its 
lumber business. The agricultural interests, however, of the 
district are now coming to the front and the city has the promise 
of stability and importance. 

Wide Stretches of Fertile Lands. 

The Cassiar district occupies the whole western portion of the 
province from the 26th degree of longitude. While its argicul- 
tural capabilities have not yet been fully determined, it is known 
to possess a number of tracts of very fertile land, notably that 
occupied by the Bella Coola Colony, which has the promise of 
great prosperity. 

The district contains some of the richest gold mines yet dis- 
covered in the province, and indications are numerous of further 
mineral wealth to be developed. There are some prosperous 
fish canning establishments on the coast, and parts of the district 
are thickly timbered. Communication with the Cassiar District 
is principally by water. Steamers start at regular dates from 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 523 

Victoria for the Skeena River, Port Simpson and other points 
on the coast within the district. 

The Cariboo district lies between Cassiar on the west and 
the Canadian Northwest on the east, its southern boundary 
being the 5 2d parallel. This district contains the famous Cariboo 
mines, from which $50,000,000 in gold have already been taken. 

It is said that there is still in this district a promising field 
for the miner. The immense output of the placer diggings 
being the result of explorations and operations necessarily con- 
fined to the surface, the enormous cost and almost insuperable 
difficulties of transporting heavy machinery necessitate the em- 
ployment of the most primitive appliances in mining. 

Obstacles a Hindrance. 

These obstacles to the full development of the marvelously 
rich gold fields of Cariboo have been largely overcome by the 
construction of the Canadian Pacific, and the improvement of the 
great highway from that railway to northern British Columbia, 
with the result that the work of development has recently been 
vigorously and extensively prosecuted. During the past few 
years several costly hydraulic plants have been introduced by 
different wealthy mining companies which are now operating 
well-known claims with the most gratifying results, and there is 
every prospect of a second golden harvest, which in its immen- 
sity and value will completely overshadow that which made 
Cariboo famous thirty years ago. 

The development work for the season of 1896 served to 
materially advance the interests of this district. Many hundreds 
of men found employment in 1 897, and it is said that no one 
wishing to do honest work for fair pay need there be idle. 

The quartz mines have not as yet been exploited only in a 
very superficial way, but the rich surface showing on Burns, 



524 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

Island and Bald mountains, all tend to prove that further research 
and a fair use of capital will make the quartz mines of the 
Cariboo district among the great producers and dividend payers 
of the world. Gold abounds in every valley, and in every 
stream that empties into it, and there is no estimating the 
unusual activity in the Cariboo mining circles, some of the richest 
places merely awaiting the advent of capital for that development 
which the new condition of affairs has rendered easily possible. 

Cariboo is not without agricultural resources, and there is a 
limited area in scattered localities in which farming and ranching 
are carried on ; but this region will always prove more attractive 
to the miner than to the settler. The early construction of a 
railway from a point on the main line of the Canadian Pacific, 
through the district, when completed will open up many desir- 
able locations and largely assist in developing the immense 
mineral wealth already known to exist. 

The Yale district is on the east of Lillooet and New West- 
minster. It extends southward to the international boundary 
and eastward to the range of high lands that separates the 
Okanagan Valley from the Arrow Lakes. This district, it is 
said, affords fine openings for miners, lumbermen, farmers and 

ranchmen. 

Is Famous for Grain. 

Okanagan is famous as a grain growing country. For many 

years this industry was not prosecuted vigorously, but of late 

there has been unusual activity in this respect, and samples of 

wheat raised in the district were sent to the Vienna Exposition, 

where they were awarded the highest premiums and bronze 

medals. One of the best flouring mills in the Dominion is now 

in operation at Enderby. It is said that the flour manufactured 

at this point is equal to the product of any other section of North 

America. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 525 

Considerable attention is now being given to the various kinds 
of fruit culture, and an important movement is on foot looking 
to the conversion of the grain fields into orchards and hop fields. 
Attention has been more particularly turned to the production of 
Kentish hops, and during the past four years hops from this sec- 
tion have brought the highest prices in the English market, com- 
peting successfully with the English, the Continental, and those 
grown in other parts of America. 

The Earl of Aberdeen, Governor-General of Canada, has a 
large fruit farm near Kelowna, on the east side of the lake. 
His Excellency has also over 13,000 acres near Vernon, in the 
Coldstream Valley, where general farming, hop growing and 
fruit raising are carried on. His orchard of about 125 acres is 
the point of attraction for visitors to Vernon. An excellent 
quality of cigar wrapper and leaf tobacco is grown about 
Kelowna, shipments of which are yearly increasing, but the pro- 
duction has not yet become general. 

Has a Vast Acreage. 

The West Kootenay district is the next east of Yale, extend- 
ing north and south from the Big Bend of the Columbia to the 
international boundary, embracing, with East Kootenay, an area 
of 16,500,000 acres. West Kootenay is noted chiefly for its 
great mineral wealth. Rich deposits of various metals have been 
discovered in different sections and new finds have been made 
almost weekly for years. It is described by those who have 
visited it as a country of illimitable possibilities. It is as yet, 
however, only in the earliest stages of development. Its vast 
hidden wealth is thus largely a matter of conjecture. 

Great progress has been made, though, and many camps have 
been established throughout the entire district, and equipped 
with all the necessary machinery for mining operations. In the 



526 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

Lardeau, Big Bend and other parts of the district the promise is 
that the output will be very large in the near future. 

The output of ore in 1896 in West Kootenay approximated 
$6,000,000, and with the additional transportation and smelting 
facilities now being afforded this amount will doubtless be 
largely increased during 1897. Capitalists and practical miners 
have shown their unbounded confidence in West Kootenay by 
investing millions of dollars in developing claims, equipping 
mines, erecting smelters, building tramways, etc., and an eminent 
American authority speaks of it as " the coming mining empire 
of the Northwest." 

In 1896 the population of West Kootenay was trebled, and 
the year witnessed the creation of a number of new mining 
camps which astonished the world with their phenomenal growth 
and prosperity. There are valuable timber limits in different 
parts of the country, and saw-mills are in operation. 

Mines Easily Reached. 

The mining districts are easily reached from Revelstoke, on 
the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, about midway 
between the eastern slope of the Rockies and the Pacific coast. 
From this point a branch line south is completed to Arrowhead, 
at the head of Upper Arrow Lake, from which the fine new 
steamers of the Columbia & Kootenay Steam Navigation Co. 
are taken to Nakusp, near the foot of the lake, where rail com- 
munication with the towns of the Slocan, the principal of which 
are New Denver, Three Forks and Sandon, the centre of a rich 
mining region, has been established, and there is an excellent 
steamboat service on Slocan Lake. 

Steamers can also be taken from Arrowhead past Nakusp to 
Robson, at the mouth of the Lower Kootenay River, along the 
bank of which unnavigable river the C. P. R. runs by its Colum- 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 527 

bia & Kootenay branch to Nelson, the metropolis of the Koo- 
tenay mining district, in the vicinity of which are the celebrated 
Silver King and other mines. 

From Nelson steamers ply to all the mining towns on the 
Kootenay Lake — Pilot Bay, Ainsworth, Kaslo, etc. From Rob- 
son the steamers continue down the Columbia to Trail, from 
which point Rossland, the centre of the new gold fields of the 
Trail Creek district, is reached by railway, and to Northport in 
the State of Washington. 

The East Kootenay district comprises the larger part of the 
famous Kootenay region of British Columbia, which is entered 
from the East at Golden, on the Canadian Pacific Railway. 
Here, too, mines are worked successfully, and prospectors are 
constantly seeking for new fields. The district contains a valley 
nearly 300 miles long from the internationally boundary line to 
the apex of the Kootenay triangle of the Big Bend of the 
Columbia, with an average width of from eight to ten miles. 

An Attractive Valley. 

In the centre of this valley is enclosed the mother lakes of the 
Columbia River, which lie 2850 feet above sea level. The soil 
is reported to be rich. Judge Sproat describes the country as 
one of the prettiest and most favored valleys in the province, 
having good grass, a fine climate, established and promising 
mines, excellent waterways, and an easy surface for road making. 

There are numerous mines at work in different sections of the 
district, chiefly in the Lower Kootenay country, in the north of 
which are the Kaslo-Slocan mines ; in the centre, those around 
Nelson and Ainsworth, and in the south those of the Goat 
River and Trail Creek districts. There are no richer gold fields 
than those of the latter mentioned district, of which Rossland is 
the centre. Several mines are already operated extensively and 






528 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



are paying large monthly dividends, while new discoveries indi- 
cate that the full richness of this region cannot yet be even 
approximately estimated. 

Large shipments of ore are being made from Le Roi, War 
Eagle, Josie, Nickel Plate, Crown Point, Evening Star, Columbia 
and Kootenay, O. K., Jumbo, Cliff, Iron Mask, Monte Christo, 
St. Elmo, Lily May, Poorman and other leading mines, while 
the Centre Star and other properties have large quantities on the 
dump ready for shipment. With increased home smelting facili- 
ties, the output of the camp will be immensely increased. 

The most notable silver mines are in the famed Slocan district, 
from which large shipments of ore have been and are being 
made — the general character of its ore being high grade galena, 
often carrying 400 ounces of silver to the ton, and averaging 100 
ounces and over. The principal mines are the Slocan Star, 
which paid $300,000 in dividends in 1896, Enterprise, Reco, 
Good Enough, Whitewater, Alamo, Ruth, Two Friends, Dar- 
danelles, Noble Five, Washington, Payne, Idaho, Mountain 
Chief and Grady groups. 

During the summer of 1896, some of the richest discoveries 
in the Kootenay were found in the Salmon River country, be- 
tween the Lower Kootenay River and the international boundary. 
In the North, in the Illecillewaet, Fish Creek and Trout Lake 
districts are rich properties which are being worked, and around 
Lardeau, some valuable placer gold mines and extensive deposits 
of galena are being developed. Between the Gold Range and 
the Selkirks is the west side of the Big Bend of the Columbia 
River, that extends north of the 5 2d parallel. 



